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UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS  STUDIES 

IN  THE 
SOCIAL  SCIENCES 

VOL.  IX  SEPTEMBER,  1920  No.  3 


ENGLISH  GOVERNMENT  FINANCE 

1485-1558 


BOARD  OF  EDITORS  : 

ERNEST  L.  BOGART  JOHN  A.  FAIRLIE 

ALBERT  H.  LYBYER 


PUBLISHED  BY  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS 

UNDER    THE    AUSPICES    OF   THE    GRADUATE    SCHOOL 

URBANA,  ILLINOIS 


COPYEIOHT,  1921 
BY  THE  UNIVERSITY  OP  ILLINOIS 


English  Government  Finance 

1485-1558 

BY 

FREDERICK  C.  DIETZ,  PH.  D. 

Assistant  Professor  of  History 
University  of  Illinois 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I.        THE  FIFTEENTH  CENTURY  BACKGROUND    ....  11 

Royal  revenues  derived  from  feudal  dues,  lands  and 
customs  in  the  Middle  Ages  —  Their  decline  in  the 
Fifteenth  Century  —  More  frequent  use  of  direct 
taxation  by  the  Lancastrians  —  The  fifteenth  and 
tjenth  —  Unsuccessful  experiments  with  other  direct 
taxes  —  Direct  taxes  not  favored  either  by  the  crown 
or  the  people — "The  King  must  live  of  his  own"  is 
the  view  of  the  gentry  class  which  was  most  affected  by 
direct  taxation. 

II.        THE  ESTABLISHMENT  OF  THE  TUDOR  DYNASTY        .        .  19 

The  king  in  alliance  with  the  lesser  gentry  and  the 
professional  classes  —  The  crown  needs  adequate  reven- 
ues under  its  own  control  —  The  middle  classes  desire 
relief  from  taxation  —  Increase  of  the  customs,  and 
especially  of  the  landed  estates  of  the  crown  as  a 
result  —  Made  practicable  by  the  increased  economic 
unification  of  England. 

HI.        THE  DEVELOPMENT  OP  THE  NEW  EEVENUE  SYSTEM        .  24 

Trade  fostered  to  increase  revenues  by  new  trade  treat- 
ies and  by  royal  credit  to  merchants  —  Lands  increased 
by  resumptions  of  alienated  portions  of  the  crown  do- 
mains, by  confiscation,  and  forfeitures  of  attainder  —  Be-' 
newed  insistence  upon  feudal  rights  of  the  king  makes 
possible  great  escheats  to  the  crown  —  Wardship  and 
Marriage  —  The  purpose  of  the  Jnqjtisitiones  post  Mort- 
em —  Insistence  upon  suit  of  livery  of  lands  by 
heirs  —  Temporalities  of  clergy  held  by  king  during 
vacations. 

rv*.       OBLIGATIONS  AND  RECOGNIZANCES  :  THE  WORK  OP  EMPSON 

AND  DUDLEY 33 

Increase  of  payments  into  the  royal  treasury  "by 
obligation ' '  and  ' '  by  recognizance ' ' —  Their  nature  — 
Closely  connected  with  the  activity  of  Empson  and  Dud- 
ley —  The  growth  of  the  Empson  and  Dudley  legend  — 
Examination  of  Dudley 's  own  account  book  —  Fines 
and  pardons  for  infringement  of  penal  laws  compara- 
tively few,  except  in  cases  of  invasions  of  the  king's 
feudal  rights  —  Empson  and  Dudley  not  mere  extor- 
tioners —  Royal  business  agents  —  The  importance  of 
their  work  in  building  up  the  crown  estates  —  Their 
unscrupulousness  and  unpopularity  —  Machiavellianism  of 
Henry  VIII. 


6  CONTENTS  [302 

V.       TAXES,  LOANS  AND  BENEVOLENCES,  THE  FRENCH  PENSION  51 

Royal  revenues  not  at  once  adequate  —  Eesorts  to  loans 
1485  —  1490  —  Use  of  foreign  complications  for  royal 
pecuniary  advantage  —  The  Breton  question  and  war 
with  France  —  Parliamentary  and  clerical  grants  —  The 
Benevolence  of  1491  —  The  French  pension  —  The 
Scotch  war,  1496  — 1497,  and  the  profits  realized  at 
that  time. 

VI.  THE  NEW  ORGANIZATION  OF  THE  FINANCIAL  SYSTEM  .  60 
Henry  VII  'a  personal  interest  in  his  finances  —  The 
Exchequer,  its  organization  and  practices  —  The  Ex- 
chequer of  Receipt  —  The  Exchequer  of  Account  —  The 
new  Declarations  of  the  State  of  the  Treasury  —  The 
Exchequer  inadequate  for  the  requirements  of  the  new 
financial  system  —  Richard  Ill's  plan  of  reorganiza- 
tion—Henry VII 's  new  court  for  the  newly  acquired 
crown  lands,  the  General  Surveyors  —  Evidence  of  the 
time  of  the  erection,  and  the  functions  of  this  new 
body —  The  Treasury  of  the  Chamber  a  treasury  for 
the  new  court  —  Exchequer  opposition  to  the  new 
court  —  Not  given  parliamentary  authority  until  the 
reign  of  Henry  VIII  —  The  position  of  the  Chamberlain 
of  Berwick,  and  of  the  Treasurer  of  Calais,  and  the 
Calais  Staple  in  the  revenue  system  —  Personal  audit  by 
the  king  of  the  accounts  of  the  new  revenues,  and  of 
the  important  extraordinary  expenditures  —  Origin  of 
the  Declared  Account. 

VII.  THE  VALUE  OP  HENRY  vii's  REVENUES    ....  78 

The  rate  of  increase  in  the  yield  of  the  revenues  — 
Marked  by  1497  —  Analysis  of  the  revenues  —  Receipts 
and  disbursements  in  the  Exchequer  —  Receipts  and 
disbursements  in  the  Treasury  of  the  Chamber  —  Re- 
ceipts and  expenditures  at  Calais  and  Berwick  — 
Henry  VII 's  surplus. 

VIII.  WOLSEY  AND  NATIONAL  FINANCE 88 

Slight  increases  in  luxury  in  Henry  VIII 'a  court  and 
household  —  Decline  of  the  revenues  in  the  Exchequer  — 
Decrease  of  the  crown  estates  through  alienation  by 
grant  —  Revenues  rendered  inadequate  by  the  beginning 
of  an  active  foreign  policy  —  The  first  war  with 
France  —  Parliamentary  grants  of  taxes  unsatisfac- 
tory —  The  inherited  surplus  depleted  —  The  second  war 
with  France  —  Resort  to  forced  loans  —  The  great 
subsidy  of  1523  —  The  failure  of  the  Amicable  grant 
in  1525  —  Henry  VIII  compelled  to  make  peace  — 
Inelasticity  of  the  revenues  shows  need  for  radical  in- 
crease to  make  the  accumulation  of  treasure  possible, 
against  sudden  emergencies  —  Wolsey  's  retrench- 
ments—  His  measures  to  increase  the  French  pensions. 

IX.       CROMWELL'S  EARLY  ADMINISTRATION        ....  103 

Continued  decline  of  the  revenues  from  existing  sourc- 
es —  Increased  needs  of  the  government :  buildings, 
Calais,  Dover,  Scotland,  Ireland  —  Need  of  surplus 


303]  CONTENTS  7 

treasure  felt  —  Attempts  to  secure  parliamentary 
grants,  1531,  1532  —  Taxation  ineffective  for  the  pur- 
pose at  that  time  —  Cromwell 's  problem  compared  with 
Henry  VII 's  —  Cromwell  strips  the  church,  as  Henry 
VH  stripped  the  nobility  —  The  confiscation  of  Wol- 
sey's  wealth  and  the  praemunire  of  the  clergy  —  Early 
suggestions  of  the  general  confiscation  of  the  church 'a 
wealth  —  The  plan  of  1534  —  The  First  Fruits  and 
Tenths  secured  —  Revenues  not  yet  adequate. 

X.       THE  DISSOLUTION  OF  THE  MONASTERIES    ....  117 

A  new  plan  to  annex  the  wealth  of  the  church  to  the 
crown  —  The  visitation  of  the  monasteries  in  1535  — 
Development  of  Cromwell's  plans  during  the  visita- 
tion —  The  reports  of  the  visitors  —  The  passage  of 
the  act  of  dissolution  of  the  smaller  houses  —  The 
causes  of  the  dissolution  —  Evil  living  in  the  houses  — 
Monks  were  the  chief  supports  of  the  papel  authority  — 
These  claims  not  substantiated  —  Behind  these  pretexts 
the  chief  cause  of  the  dissolution  was  the  financial 
needs  of  the  government  —  The  surrender  of  the  larger 
houses  and  friaries  —  The  shrines. 

XI.  THE  REVENUES  AND  THEIR  YIELD  AFTER  THE  INCREASES 

MADE  BY  CROMWELL 137 

The  yearly  value  of  the  monastic  estates  as  studied  by 
antiquarians  —  Their  figures  of  little  value  to  show 
Henry  VIII  's  gains  —  Comparison  of  the  monastic  rev- 
enues acquired  by  Cromwell  with  the  older  revenues  to 
show  their  importance  —  The  revenues  of  the  Excheq- 
uer, Court  of  General  Surveyors,  the  Duchy  of  Lancaster 
and  the  Court  of  Wards  —  The  new  revenues  in  the 
Court  of  First  Fruits  and  Tenths  —  In  the  Court 
of  Augmentations  —  The  new  surplus. 

XII.  THE  WAR  WITH  FRANCE  AND  SCOTLAND,  1542  — 1547        .  144 

The  relations  of  France  and  the  Empire,  1537  — 
Growing  hostility  to  Henry  VIII  in  France  — Friction 
between  France  and  England,  1539  —  The  question 
of  the  Pensions  —  Scotland  —  Preparations  for  financ- 
ing a  coming  war  —  Accumulation  of  the  surplus  hast- 
ened —  Sale  of  monastic  lands  in  large  amounts  adopted 
1539  —  Dissolution  of  the  Knights  of  St.  John — The 
subsidy  of  1540  —  Other  measures  —  The  Benevolent 
loan,  1542,  and  succeeding  forced  loans  —  Loans  in 
Flanders,  1544 — The  debasement  of  the  currency, 
1544  —  Chaotic  conditions  in  1545  —  The  peace  of 
1546. 

XIII.  DIRECT  TAXES,  LOANS,  AND  THE  DEBASEMENT  OF  THE 
COINAGE,   1542  —  1547 159 

Growing  productivity  of  direct  taxes  in  this  period  — 
Early  history  of  the  subsidy,  and  its  development  in 
Henry  VII 's,  and  the  earlier  part  of  Henry  VIII 's 
reigns  —  Forms  of  the  later  subsidies  —  Use  of  fif- 
teenths and  tenths  in  conjunction  with  the  subsidies  — 
Renewed  resort  to  the  forced  loans  —  Really  arbitrary 


8  CONTENTS  [304 

taxes  without  parliamentary  authority  —  Method  of  as- 
sessment and  collection  —  Their  yield  —  Resistance  to 
the  loan  in  1545  —  The  contribution  of  1546  — 
The  loans  in  Flanders  —  Of  interest  as  illustrating 
practices  of  international  banking  —  Stephen  Vaughan, 
the  king's  agent  in  Flanders  and  his  work — • 
The  debasement  of  the  coinage  —  Earlier  enhancements 
of  the  value  of  the  coinage  in  the  Tudor  period  — 
Unstable  relation  of  the  value  of  gold  and  silver,  and 
changes  in  the  exchange  —  The  alteration  of  1542  — 
The  great  debasement  of  1544  —  Pressing  need  for 
money  the  only  cause  —  Extent  of  the  debasement  — 
The  government  'a  profits. 

XIV.      THE  SCOTCH  AND  FRENCH  WARS,  1547  — 1550        .        .  178 

Strained  condition  of  the  financial  resources  at  the 
beginning  of  Edward  VI 's  reign  —  Dishonesty  and 
graft  in  the  government  made  situation  more  serious  — 
Crisis  brought  on  by  renewal  of  the  war  with  Scotland 
and  France  —  Sale  of  crown  lands  —  Confiscation  of 
the  chantries  —  Further  debasement  of  the  coinage  — 
Foreign  loans. 

XV.      NORTHUMBERLAND  's    FAILURE,    1550  — 1553    .        .        .  188 

The  heavy  post-war  charges  —  Increase  in  normal  ex- 
penditures in  the  household  —  Retrenchment  —  Debts 
due  to  the  crown  called  in  —  Church  plate  confiscated 
and  church  ornaments  and  bells  sold  —  Coinage  still 
more  debased  —  Attempts  to  pay  the  loans  in  Fland- 
ers —  Summer  1552,  treasuries  empty  —  Northumber- 
land disarms  himself  —  Heroic  effort  to  rehabilitate 
the  state 's  finances  —  William  Cecil  placed  in  charge  — 
Parliamentary  grant  —  Attack  on  the  last  great  prop- 
erties of  the  church,  the  bishops'  estates  begun. 

XVI.     RECONSTRUCTION  UNDER  MARY,  1553  — 1558        .        .        .  202 

Expenditures  at  once  reduced  and  pensions  curtailed  — 
Revenue  increased  — Recovery  of  some  of  the  f  radulently 
alienated  lands  —  Rise  in  rents  of  the  crown  lands  — 
New  Book  of  Rates  for  customs,  and  imposts  on 
cloth,  wine  and  beer  —  The  debts  in  Flanders  —  Parlia- 
mentary taxes  —  Forced  loans  —  Retrogressive  steps  — 
Restoration  of  lands  confiscated  by  Henry  VIII  and 
Edward  VI  —  Surrender  of  First  Fruits  and  Tenths. 
Conclusion. 

APPENDIX  AND  BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  NOTES    ....  215 

INDEX  239 


PREFACE 

The  publication  of  the  Pipe  Rolls,  of  Expenditure  and  Receipt 
Rolls,  of  Taxation  and  Subsidy  Rolls,  of  Household  and  Ward- 
robe Accounts  and  many  other  accounts  of  official  nature  has 
made  available  in  printed  form  a  large  body  of  material  for  the 
student  of  English  government  finance,  especially  in  the  later 
Middle  Ages.  Much  research  has  already  been  done  on  special 
topics.  Beside  Madox's  History  and  Antiquities  of  the  Exche- 
quer, and  its  continuation  beyond  1327  in  F.  S.  Thomas's  little  /  Pff* 
book,  The  Ancient  Exchequer  of  England,  there  is  the  highly  J  t^o'T 
scholarly  work  on  the  Exchequer  by  Hall,  Poole  and  Vinogradoff.  ' 
The  history  of  the  customs  has  been  rather  fully  and  carefully 
written  by  Hubert  Hall,  whose  theory  of  the  origin  of  the 
customs  has  been  corrected  by  Gras.  The  taxation  of  the 
thirteenth  century  is  elaborately  examined  by  S.  K.  Mitchell, 
in  his  Studies  m  Taxation  under  John  and  Henry  HI,  and 
by  J.  A.  C.  Vincent),  in  his  Lancashire  Lay  Subsidies. 

But  no  satisfactory  general  account  of  the  finances  of  the 
English  government,  showing  their  nature  and  extent,  and  the 
theories  on  the  basis  of  which  various  kinds  of  revenues  were 
used,  bringing  out  at  the  same  time  the  close  interrelation  and 
interaction  between  finance  and  the  more  general  political  prob- 
lems and  policies,  has  yet  been  written.  The  nearest  approach 
to  such  a  general  account  is  Stephen  Dowell's  History  of  Tax- 
ation and  Taxes  in  England.  His  implied  assumption  that 
taxation  was  always  the  chief  resource  of  English  governments 
for  their  revenues,  is  incorrect,  and  has  led  to  a  too  large 
disregard  of  the  vastly  more  important  revenues  under  the 
king's  own  control,  in  the  earlier  period.  Dowell's  account  of 
the  earlier  period  of  English  history  moreover,  is  too  meagre, 
and  at  best  he  is  chiefly  interested  in  the  "how"  of  things,  and 
pays  little  attention  to  the  "why."  Dowell's  book  may  be 
supplemented  by  S.  A.  Morgan's  History  of  Parliamentary 


Taxation  in  England,  a  short,  ably  written  sketch,  and  by 
chapters  in  Cunningham's  Growth  of  English  Industry  and 
Commerce.  For  the  period  down  to  1485  J.  H.  Ramsay  in  his 
Foundations  of  England,  The  Angevin  Empire,  The  Dawn  of 
the  Constitution,  The  Gensis  of  Lancaster,  and  Lancaster  and 
York,  devotes  much  attention  to  the  actual  revenue  receipts 
and  expenditures,  without,  however  giving  any  very  extensive 
interpretive  account  of  them. 

For  the  Tudor  age  less  has  been  done  than  for  times  earlier. 
There  is  little  besides  Schantz's  Englische  Handelspolitik,  and 
some  short  articles,  like  Gras's  Tudor  Books  of  Rates,  Mrs.  Eric 
George's  Note  on  the  Origin  of  the  Declared  Account,  Professor 
Oman's  The  Tudors  and  the  Currency,  and  Mr.  A.  P.  Newton's 
The  King's  Chamber  under  the  early  Tudors.  Of  the  actual 
amount  of  the  English  revenues,  and  the  comparatively  small 
part  played  by  direct  taxation  of  Parliamentary  origin,  and 
of  the  great  changes  in  the  organization  of  the  whole  financial 
system  between  1485  and  1554,  very  little  is  known,  or  indeed 
suspected  by  writers  of  English  history. 

In  the  preparation  of  this  essay,  the  attempt  has  been  made 
to  collect,  and  to  study  carefully  all  the  existing  revenue  ac- 
counts of  the  English  government  from  1485  to  1558,  together 
with  all  other  documents  which  would  serve  to  make  clear 
the  government's  policy  and  purposes.  Many  classes  of  docu- 
ments in  the  Public  Record  Office  hitherto  entirely  unused 
were  investigated.  It  is  hoped  that  by  this  research  something 
may  have  been  done  to  make  a  beginning  of  a  history  of  Tudor 
Finances,  and  some  small  contribution  made  to  the  larger  work 
of  a  general  history  of  the  finances  of  the  English  State. 

This  study  was  undertaken  at  the  suggestion  of  Professor 
Edwin  F.  Gay  when  he  was  still  at  Harvard  University,  and 
to  his  stimulus  and  friendly  counsel  whatever  merit  it  may  have, 
is  due. 

FREDERICK  C.  DIETZ 


CHAPTER  I 

THE  FIFTEENTH  CENTURY  BACKGROUND 

In  the  middle  ages,  the  revenues  of  the  English  kings  were 
derived  from  the  firma  comitatus,  or  farm  of  the  ancient  domains 
of  the  crown  and  of  the  king's  share  of  the  fines  in  the  popular 
courts;  the  fee-farms  of  incorporated  boroughs  and  cities;  the 
fines  and  amercements  in  the  king's  courts;  the  farm  of  the 
ulnage  and  the  profits  of  escheat  and  other  feudal  incidents. 
To  these  Edward  I  had  added  the  great  and  small  customs, 
the  magna  and  the  parva  custuma,  and  Edward  III  the  cus- 
toms subsidies  of  tonnage  and  poundage,  and  of  wool,  wool 
fells  and  leather.  The  customs  subsidies  of  tonnage  and  pound- 
age and  of  wool,  wool  fells  and  leather  were  of  parliamentary 
origin,  and  in  the  fifteenth  century  either  were  granted  for 
periods  of  two  or  three  years  and  renewed,  or  were  voted  for 
life.  Though  they  were  given  theoretically  for  the  safeguarding 
of  the  seas,  and  the  defense  of  the  realm,  and  though  parlia- 
ment endeavored  to  control  their  use,  in  actual  fact,  once  they 
were  granted  by  Parliament,  the  king  used  them  as  he  pleased, 
and  for  all  practical  purposes  they  formed  part  of  the  annual 
regularly  recurring  revenues  of  the  crown.1  Besides  the  feudal 

i  Henry  V  received  the  grant  of  these  subsidies  for  life  after  the 
battle  of  Agincourt  (Rot.  Part.,  IV,  641) ;  Henry  VI  in  1453  (Eot.  Part., 
V,  229) ;  Edward  IV  in  1472  after  Hexham  (Eot.  Part.,  VI,  154) ;  and 
Richard  III  in  1485  (Eot.  Part.,  VI,  238).  A  grant  for  life  was  never  to 
be  a  precedent,  (Eot.  Part.,  IV,  64a).  In  1404  the  Commons  in  their 
grant  declared  that  the  sums  received  from  these  subsidies  should  be  spent 
"in  especial  expense  in  defence  of  the  realm,  according  to  the  form  and 
intent  of  the  grant  .  .  and  for  no  other  purpose. ' '  Anyone  who  received 
any  sums  out  of  the  said  grants  "for  wars  or  for  any  debt  due  by  King 
Henry  before  the  day  of  this  present  Parliament  except  only  for  the 
defence  of  the  realm  to  be  made  in  time  to  come"  was  declared  guilty  of 
treason.  The  disbursement  was  placed  in  charge  of  treasurers  of  war,  to 

11 


12  ENGLISH   GOVERNMENT   FINANCE  [308 

dues  and  the  customs,  the  king  enjoyed  the  income  from  estates 
which  had  come  more  recently  into  the  hands  of  the  crown, 
especially  in  the  course  of  the  fifteenth  century,  either  by  in- 
heritence  like  the  lands  of  the  Duchy  of  Lancaster,  or  by 
forfeiture  like  the  estates  of  the  Duke  of  Clarence. 

The  crown  revenues  from  feudal  sources  and  from  customs 
diminished  greatly  in  value  'in  the  course  of  thp  fifteenth 
century.  In  the  reign  of  Henry  VI  the  firma  comitatus,  and 
the  fee  farms  of  the  chartered  towns,  and  other  feudal  dues 
had  yielded  £17,000  yearly  to  the  crown.2  In  the  reign  of 
Edward  IV  they  returned  only  £2,500.3  The  customs  revenues 
of  all  kinds  had  averaged  £47,000  a  year  in  Henry  IV 's  reign. 
In  the  middle  of  the  century  they  fell  to  £32,000  a  year,  and 
in  the  first  half  of  Edward  IV 's  reign  to  £25,000  a  year.  They 
rose  to  an  average  of  £35,000  a  year  in  the  latter  half  of  this 
reign,  only  to  decline  to  £20,800  a  year  for  the  three  years  of 
the  reigns  of  Edward  V  and  Richard  III.*  The  more  re- 
cently acquired  crown  lands  were  in  a  similar  case.  During 
the  fifteenth  century  the  land  which  came  to  the  crown  by 
forfeiture  was  very  great  in  extent.  Fortescue  estimated  that 
during  the  reign  of  Edward  IV  alone,  the  king  held  possession 
of  one  fifth  of  the  land  of  England,  at  one  time  and  another.5 
Because  faithful  followers  demanded  rewards,  and  perhaps 
because  a  system  of  centralized  control  of  crown  lands  had 
as  yet  not  been  sufficiently  developed,  the  land  passed  out 

report  at  the  next  Parliament  (Rot.  Part.,  Ill,  546b).  Even  as  late  as 
1473-1476  Sir  John  Fortescue,  in  his  De  Dominio  Regali  et  Politico,  de- 
clared that  the  subsidy  of  the  tonnage  and  poundage  ought  to  be  applied 
only  to  the  keeping  of  the  sea,  and  was  not  to  be  considered  part  of  the 
king's  ordinary  revenues  (Fortescue,  Works,  I,  456).  But  as  early  as 
1406  Henry  IV  was  permitted  to  use  £6,000  of  the  revenues  from  customs 
subsidies  as  he  pleased  (Bot.  Part.,  Ill,  568b) ;  in  Henry  VI  's  reign  it 
was  made  possible  to  use  some  of  their  returns  to  meet  household  expenses 
(Rot.  Part.,  V,  246-247),  and  in  Edward  IV 's  reign  assignments  for  the 
household  were  definitely  made  upon  these  subsidies  (Rot.  Part.,  VI,  198- 
199). 

2  Eamsay,  Lancaster  and  York,  I,  145-146. 

s  Ibid.,  I,  458. 

*lbid.,  I,  151,  313;  II,  254-257;  461-462;  559.  These  tables  are  based 
on  the  Lord  Treasurer's  Remembrancer's  Enrolled  Customs  Accounts. 

s  Fortescue,  Works,  I,  463. 


309]  THE  FIFTEENTH  CENTURY  BACKGROUND  13 

of  the  king's  possession  almost  immediately.6  The  hereditary 
estates  of  the  crown,  the  Duchy  of  Cornwall,  the  Earldom  of 
Chester,  the  Principality  of  Wales,  and  the  Duchy  of  Lan- 
caster were  alienated  only  in  part;  but  they  were  so  burdened 
with  charges  that  during  the  reign  of  Edward  IV  that  they  re- 
turned to  the  crown  only  five-eighths  of  their  rental.7  From  all 
the  more  recently  acquired  crown  lands  Edward  IV  received 
per  year  on  the  average,  during  the  last  years  of  his  reign,8 
£6,471  and  during  the  reign  of  Richard  III,  the  sums  seem  to 
have  been  less.9 

The  growing  deficiency  of  the  ordinary  revenues  gives  a 
clue  to  the  rising  importance  of  direct  taxes  of  parliamentary 
origin  in  the  fifteenth  century.  The  difficulties  of  the  Lan- 
castrian kings  were  not  due  to  extravagance  and  mismanage- 
ment. Their  shrinking  revenues  scarcely  sufficed  for  their 
ordinary  expenses,  and  their  constant  wars  compelled  them  to 
find  further  resources  in  frequent  parliamentary  grants. 

The  usual  parliamentary  tax  was  the  fifteenth  and  tenth. 
The  fifteenth  and  tenth  was  a  grant  of  the  fifteenth  part  of 
the  value  of  movable  property  belonging  to  persons  outside 
the  royal  demesne;  and  the  tenth  part  of  such  value  in  case  of 
persons  living  on  the  royal  demesne  and  in  cities  and  boroughs. 
Though  this  tax  was  originally  assessed  anew  at  every  grant, 
it  was  fixed  in  1334  on  the  basis  of  a  composition  between  the 
royal  commissioners  and  the  men  who  paid  it.10  The  sum 
agreed  upon  was  "entered  on  the  rolls  as  the  assessment  of  the 
particular  township.  And  the  tax-payers  in  the  townships  were 
required  to  assess  and  collect  the  amount  upon  and  from  the 
various  contributors. ' ' X1  The  fifteenth  and  tenth  thus  passed 
out  of  the  control  of  the  royal  assessors  and  commissioners, 
since  the  tax-payers  in  each  township  assessed  and  collected 
the  required  sum,  and  it  became  a  fossilized  tax  yielding  at 

e  Ramsay,  Lancaster  and  York,  I,  147 ;  II,  459. 

7  Ibid.,  II,  459-461. 

&Exch.   of  Eeceipt,  Eeceipt  Soils,  nos.   941,   942,   943,  946,  947,   949; 

Michaelmas  1480-Micliaelmas  1483. 

• 

8  Exch.   of  Eeceipt,  Eeceipt  Eolls,   nos.   950,   951 ;    Easter,  1484-Easter, 
1485. 

10  Stephen  Dowell,  History  of  Taxation  and  Taxes  in  England;  I,  87. 

11  Ibid.,  I,  86. 


14  ENGLISH   GOVERNMENT   FINANCE  [310 

first  between  £38,000  and  £39,000.12  But  since  no  new  groups 
could  be  added  to  those  which  paid  the  tax,  nor  the  amount 
paid  by  any  existing  group  increased  because  of  the  fixing  of 
the  assessment  in  1334,  as  the  old  groups  became  unable  to 
pay  their  full  quotas,  the  value  of  the  tax  to  the  crown  de- 
creased. Allowances  were  made  from  time  to  time  for  decayed 
towns.  In  1443  the  specific  sum  of  £4000  was  allowed,13  and 
this  was  increased  in  1449  to  £6000,  when,  in  addition,  the 
city  of  Lincoln  and  the  town  of  Great  Yarmouth  were  com- 
pletely exempted  from  payment.  From  that  time  forward  these 
allowances  and  exemptions  were  always  made.  The  yield  of 
the  tax  was  thus  reduced  to  between  £32,000  and  £33,000,  and 
continued  to  fall.  It  is  to  be  noted  also  that  the  fifteenth 
and  tenth,  originally  a  tax  on  movable  goods  became  after  1334 
a  fixed  tax  on  land.  It  did  not  however  touch  the  demesne 
lands  of  peers,  and  it  passed  over  the  landless  population  en- 
tirely.1* 

For  these  reasons,  the  Lancastrian  and  Yorkist  kings,  and 
even  their  predecessors  made  every  effort  to  replace  the  fifteenth 
and  tenth  by  more  productive  taxes  with  a  broader  incidence, 
collected  under  royal  control.  In  1404  Henry  IV  declaring  to 
Parliament  that  the  grant  of  1402  was  insufficient,  received 
a  new  tax,  a  grant  of  five  per  cent  of  the  yearly  value  of  lands 
and  rents  in  England,  or  of  one  shilling  for  every  £20  of  per- 
sonal property  in  the  case  of  men  without  land.  With  this 
were  combined  two  fifteenths  and  tenths.15  During  the  next 
reigns  various  experiments  were  tried;  a  tax  on  householders 
combined  with  a  tax  on  knights'  fees,16  a  tax  on  land,17  a  grad- 
uated tax  on  land,18^  and  in  1440  a  graduated  income  tax  com- 
bined with  an  act  for  the  resumption  of  all  grants  from  the 
royal  demesne  since  the  accession  of  Henry  VI.19  The  remark- 
is  I&id.,  I,  87. 

"  Eot.  Parl,  IV,  425a. 

i*  Nottingham  Records,  II,  286;  Vickers,  England  in  the  Later  Middle 
Ages,  335. 

IB  Eot.  Parl,  III,  546-547. 

™lbid.,  IV,  318b;  anno  1427. 

u  Ibid.,  IV,  370;  anno  1431. 

is  Ibid.,  IV,  486b;  anno  1435. 

i» Ibid.,  V,  172-174.  A  description  of  these  taxes  is  given  in  Dowell, 
I,  104-126. 


311]  THE  FIFTEENTH  CENTURY  BACKGROUND  15 

able  thing  is,  that  of  all  these  experiments  made  during  the 
first  half  of  the  fifteenth  century,  not  one  was  successful  enough 
to  be  repeated.  The  new  taxes  were  perhaps  sometimes  too  elab- 
orate to  be  successfully  managed  with  the  existing  governmental 
machinery;  but  the  proviso  added  to  nearly  all  the  new  taxes 
that  they  were  not  to  be  taken  as  precedents,  lends  some  support 
to  Dowell's  statements  that  the  fifteenth  and  tenth  "came  to 
be  regarded  by  the  people  almost  as  of  constitutional  right" 
and  that  all  the  attempts  to  introduce  other  forms  of  taxation 
ended  in  failure  for  that  reason.20  Even  in  conjunction  with 
some  of  the  new  taxes  the  fifteenth  and  tenth  was  used,  as  in 
1404,  1431  and  1435;  and  it  was  always  returned  to  in  the 
intervals  between  experiments. 

Edward  IV  made  two  great  efforts  to  change  the  character 
of  the  parliamentary  grants,  in  1463  and  1472.  In  1463  the 
£6,000  allowed  in  the  fifteenth  and  tenth  for  decayed  towns 
was  to  be  levied  upon  the  shires  proportionately  to  the  sum 
allowed  for  the  decayed  towns  within  each  shire.  This  sum 
so  apportioned  to  the  shire,  was  to  be  levied  upon  the  inhabit- 
ants having  twenty  shillings  in  yearly  value  of  lands  or  ten 
marks  in  goods,  by  royal  commissioners,  and  the  money  was  to 
be  collected  by  royal  collectors.  This  plan  was  an  attempt  to 
recoup  the  crown  in  the  collection  of  fifteenths  and  tenths  to 
the  amount  of  the  allowances  made  to  the  shires  for  decayed 
towns ;  to  alter  the  incidence  of  taxation  by  a  new  limit  of  exemp- 
tion and  the  inclusion  of  the  landless  classes;  to  introduce  the 
principle  of  a  progressive  charge ;  and  to  replace  local  by  royal 
assessment  and  collection; — in  short,  "to  revise  the  settlement 
of  1534.  "21  The  king  was  compelled  to  abandon  the  attempt. 
He  remitted  the  £6,000  and  agreed  to  collect  the  fifteenth  and 
tenth  under  the  old  forms.22 

In  1472  Edward  IV  made  another  attempt  to  change  the 
old  order.  To  pay  for  the  support  of  13,000  archers  against 
France  for  one  year,  estimated  to  cost  £118,625,  he  received 
from  Parliament  the  grant  of  ten  per  cent  of  all  issues  and 
profits  of  lands  and  tenements,  rents,  fees,  annuities,  offices  and 

20  Dowell,  I,  88. 

21  Ibid.,  I,  121. 

22  Rot.  Part.,  V,  498. 


16  ENGLISH   GOVERNMENT   FINANCE  [312 

other  income  from  the  Commons  and  Lords  in  Parliament.23  The 
first  collection  of  the  tax  yielded  £31,140.  To  provide  the  bal- 
ance, Parliament  before  its  prorogation  granted  a  fifteenth  and 
tenth,  and  saddled  £5,383  arbitrarily  upon  those  counties  whose 
certificates  of  assessment  had  not  been  returned  in  time  for  the 
first  collection.  There  was  still  lacking  £51,147,  however,  after 
this  second  grant  had  been  collected.  This  sum  was  now 
assessed  upon  the  shires  in  specific  amounts,  and  royal  commis- 
sioners were  sent  to  subdivide  the  sum  assesed  on  a  county, 
among  the  inhabitants,  levying  on  the  value  of  goods  and  chat- 
tels, which  were  to  be  taxed  before  any  land  or  landed  posses, 
sions.  The  new  tax  was  not  successful.  The  House  of  Commons, 
stating  that  "the  most  easy,  ready  and  prone  payment  of  any 
charge  to  be  borne  within  this  realm  by  the  commons  of  the 
same,  is  by  grants  of  fifteenths  and  tenths,  the  levy  whereof 
amongst  your  people  is  so  usual  although  it  be  to  them  full 
chargeable,  that  none  other  form  of  levy  resembleth  thereunto, ' ' 
prayed  the  king  to  remit  the  said  £51,147.  and  take  in  its  place 
one  entire  fifteenth  and  tenth  and  "three  parts"  of  a  fifteenth 
and  tenth.24  The  next  grant  of  taxes  in  1482  was  a  fifteenth 
and  tenth  in  the  old  form.25 

The  fifteenth  century  experiment  of  using  direct  parlia- 
mentary taxation  to  increase  the  governmental  income  was 
not  regarded  as  successful  by  either  the  king  or  his  people. 
For  the  crown  it  was  accompanied  by  an  unwelcome  surrender 
of  power  to  Parliament,  which  made  opportunities  of  the  king's 
necessities  to  endeavor  to  increase  its  own  control  of  the  state, 
and  to  interfere  with  the  policies  of  the  king.  The  ' '  consti- 
tutionalism" of  the  century  follows  directly  upon  the  financial 
difficulties  of  the  Lancastrian  sovereigns.  Among  the  "people" 
taxation  as  a  method  of  government  finance  was  unpopular. 
As  the  ' '  people ' '  expressed  themselves  in  Parliament  and  through 
the  writers  on  political  theory,  like  Sir  John  Fortescue,  they 
show  themselves  to  have  an  ingrained  notion  that  the  king  should 
live  of  his  own.  Henry  IV  was  petitioned  by  his  Parliament 
of  1404  that  he  should  live  of  his  own.26  Sir  John  Fortescue 

23  ibid.,  VI,  4. 

24  Ibid.,  VI,  151. 

25  Ibid.,  VI,  197. 

26  Oman,  The  Political  History  of  England,  1S77-1485,  191. 


313]  THE  FIFTEENTH  CENTURY  BACKGROUND  17 

held  that  in  general  the  king  should  live  of  his  own  "livelood" 
which  was  his  in  right  of  his  crown,27  and  Edward  IV,  bidding 
for  the  support  of  the  nation  at  large,  announced  in  1467  that 
he  intended  to  "lyve  upon  my  nowne,  and  not  to  charge  my 
subjgettes  but  in  grete  and  urgent  causes. ' ' 28  Only  when  there 
fell  ' '  a  case  overmuch  exorbitant, ' '  for  the  suppression  of  rebel- 
lion, the  defence  of  the  realm  to  repel  invasion  and  the  safe- 
guarding of  the  seas,  was  it  thought  right  and  necessary  that 
the  people  should  be  taxed.20  The  formulated  reason  for  this 
attitude  was  that  taxes,  regularly  levied  for  the  support  of 
the  ordinary  charges  of  the  government  impoverished  the  people. 
France  where  the  aides  and  tallies  together  with  the  gabelle 
and  certain  excises  were  the  important  revenues  of  the  king, 
was  the  horrible  example.  "There  the  same  commons  be  so 
impoverished  and  destroyd  that  they  may  unneth  (scarcely) 
lyve.  Thay  drynke  Water.  Thay  eate  Apples,  with  Bred  right 
brown  made  of  Rye.  They  eaten  no  flesche.  .  .  Their  Wifs 
and  Children  gone  bare  fote.  .  .  Thay  gone  crokyd  and  ar 
feble  not  able  to  fyght  nor  to  defend  the  Eealme  nor  they  have 
wepon  nor  monye  to  buy  them  wepon  withal. " 80  In  England 
with  the  commons  poverty-stricken  by  taxation,  the  archers 
would  decrease,  and  the  nation's  military  power  be  weakened. 
The  people,  being  men  of  greater  courage  than  the  French 
might  rise  against  the  king.  In  time  of  special  need  they  would 
not  be  able  to  help  his  necessities  as  they  now  did  with  subsidies 
and  fifteenths  and  tenths.31 

Behind  such  arguments,  Lord  Acton  would  have  us  seek  the 
baser  motives,  the  special  self-interest.  The  articulate  classes, 
who  ever  arrogate  to  themselves  the  designation  of  the  people, 
who  voiced  these  protests  against  taxation  in  the  persons  of 
such  writers  as  Sir  John  Fortescue,  or  through  the  House  of 
Commons,  were  the  richer  freeholders  and  gentry  of  the  country ; 
and  the  burgesses  of  the  towns.  The  persons  who  paid  the  fif- 
teenths and  tenths  and  subsidies  were  precisely  these  same 
ones.  Had  they  been  given  to  deeper  introspection,  they  would 

27  Fortescue,  Works,  I,  458-459. 

28  Vickers,  England  in  the  Later  Middle  Ages,  467. 
28  Fortescue,  Works,  I,  457. 

so  Ibid.,  I,  451-452. 
si  Ibid.,  I,  464-466. 


18  ENGLISH   GOVERNMENT   FINANCE  [314 

probably  have  acknowledged  that  their  real  objection  to  taxa- 
tion as  a  method  of  financing  the  state  was  that  it  took  their 
property  and  the  property  of  their  peculiar  classes  alone,  for 
the  support  of  the  state  and  government.  The  continuance  of 
the  earlier  developments  of  the  country  might  have  reconciled 
them  to  taxational  finance;  for  in  return  they  had  acquired  in 
their  institution,  Parliament,  especially  in  Henry  IV 's  reign, 
a  large  degree  of  control  in  the  state.  This  control  seems  to 
have  been  asserted  rather  to  limit  expenditure  and  to  keep  down 
taxes,  rather  than  for  any  desire  to  shape  high  policy.  For  the 
proper  use  of  this  control,  in  their  own  interests  however,  the 
gentry  and  burgesses  had  neither  experience  nor  aptitude.  When 
in  the  middle  of  the  century  they  found  Parliament  and  its 
power  the  tool  of  ambitious  restless  nobles  like  the  Beauforts, 
York,  Warwick,  and  later,  Gloucester,  for  the  disturbance  of  the 
peace  of  the  land,  they  must  have  felt  that  government  should 
be  chiefly  the  concern  of  the  king.  Bather  than  power  in  the 
state,  which  they  did  not  yet  know  how  to  use,  they  preferred 
for  themselves  relief  from  the  necessity  of  supporting  the  state. 
Thus  the  ancient  idea  that  the  king  should  live  of  his  own  was 
reinforced,  and  became  anew  a  vital  article  of  their  creed. 


CHAPTER  II 

THE  ESTABLISHMENT  OF  THE  TUDOR  DYNASTY 

Henry  Tudor 's  chief  advisers  and  supporters  in  1485  fall 
into  two  classes;  on  the  one  hand  the  Earl  of  Oxford  and  the 
Courtenays  of  Devon,  and  on  the  other,  John  Morton,  Richard 
Fox,  Reginald  Bray,  Richard  Guildford,  Edward  Poynings, 
Richard  Edgecombe,  and  Thomas  Lovell.1  Oxford  and  the  Cour- 
tenays are  representatives  of  the  remnants  of  the  old  Lancastrian 
nobility.  They  had  been  exiled  for  their  loyalty  to  the  cause 
of  Lancaster,  and  their  property  and  wealth  confiscated.  To 
them  the  triumph  of  Henry  Tudor  meant  the  victory  of  the 
true  Lancastrian  claimant  over  the  usurper  of  York,  together 
with  their  own  personal  rehabilitation  in  title,  estates  and 
position. 

Morton,  Fox,  Bray,  Guilford,  Poynings,  Lovell  and  Edgecombe 
were  all  of  them  sons  of  yeomen  or  lesser  gentry;  men  with 
university  or  legal  training,  or  skilled  in  accounting  —  in  a 
word  —  the  professional  men  of  the  middle  classes.  The  best 
trained  and  most  experienced  men  of  their  classes,  they  may  be 
taken  as  the  best  representatives  of  the  attitude  and  interests 
of  their  classes,  and  their  support  of  Henry  Tudor  was  more 
than  mere  personal  service.  To  them  Henry  Tudor  was  not  a 
Lancastrian  as  opposed  to  the  Yorkist  Richard  III,  but  the 
strong  prince,  the  legitimate  king,  the  enemy  of  the  feudal  nobil- 
ity who  for  the  last  thirty  years  had  made  sport  of  the  king 
and  the  crown.  The  revolution  of  1485  was  a  revolution  of  the 
middle  class  in  alliance  with  Henry  Tudor,  with  such  help  as 
they  could  get  from  the  Lancastrian  cause  against  the  old  nobil- 
ity. The  Tudor  commonwealth  which  followed  was  an  alliance 
of  the  same  middle  class  with  the  crown  for  mutual  self  interest.2 

1  There  were  of  course  also  those  Yorkists  who  resented  Eichard  III 's 
usurpation,  like  the  Woodvilles. 

2  Cf.  J.  W.  Burgess,  Political  Science  and  Comparative  Constitutional 

19 


20  ENGLISH   GOVERNMENT   FINANCE  [316 

One  of  the  chief  interests  of  the  crown  was  to  secure  a  sufficient 
revenue,  at  least,  large  enough  to  make  impossible  a  repetition 
of  the  humiliation  and  chaos  of  the  fifteenth  century.  It  might 
be  increased  so  much  even  as  to  enable  the  crown  to  be  freer 
in  its  choice  of  policies,  or  as  it  termed,  to  become  more  absolute. 
The  middle  class  desire  among  other  things  was  to  shift  from 
itself  the  burden  of  financing  the  state,  or  of  contributing  to 
its  support,  to  be  as  free  as  possible  from  taxation. 

The  trend  of  the  working  of  the  alliance  of  the  king  and  the 
middle  class  is  clearly  indicated  in  the  first  Parliament  of  Henry 
VII 's  reign.  The  question  of  an  adequate  revenue  was  taken 
up  early  in  the  session.  The  first  grant  made  to  the  king  was 
that  of  the  subsidies  of  tonnage  and  poundage  and  of  wool, 
wool  fells  and  leather  for  life,  for  the  defence  of  the  realm  and 
the  safe-guard  and  keeping  of  the  sea.3  With  a  view  to  increas- 
ing the  yield  of  these  and  other  customs  revenues,  or  at  any 
rate  to  stop  the  decrease  caused  by  merchants  alien  becoming 
denizens  —  since  denizens  paid  at  a  lower  rate  than  aliens  — 
all  merchants  alien  who  became  denizens  were  required  to  con- 
tinue to  pay  at  the  higher  rate.4 

Further,  since  the  present  revenues  did  not  suffice  "to  kepe 
and  sustayne"  the  king's  honorable  household,  and  his  other 
ordinary  charges  "which  must  be  kept  and  borne  worshipfully 

Law,  I,  93.  "By  the  middle  of  the  fifteenth  century  the  actual  power 
cf  the  state  had  passed  from  the  aristocracy  to  the  people.  It  remained 
cow  for  the  people  to  organize  themselves  and  seize  the  sovereignty. 
Nominally  they  were  organized  in  the  House  of  Commons,  but  really  they 
were  not.  The  House  of  Commons  was  then  but  a  kind  of  overflow-meeting 
of  the  House  of  Lords.  The  people  were  not  yet  far  enough  advanced 
in  the  development  of  their  political  consciousness  to  create  an  entirely 
independent  organization.  An  existing  institution  must  furnish  them  the 
nucleua  They  were  deeply  conscious  of  their  hostility  to  the  aristocracy. 
There  remained,  then,  only  the  King.  He,  too,  was  hostile  to  the  aris- 
tocracy. Through  their  common  enemy,  the  King  and  the  people  were 
referred  to  each  other.  In  the  organization  which  followed,  called  in 
political  history  the  absolute  monarchy  of  the  Tudors,  the  people  were 
in  reality,  the  sovereign,  the  state,  but  apparently,  the  King  was  the  state. 
England  under  the  Tudors  was  a  democratic  political  society  under  mon- 
archic government." 

s  Bot.  Parl,  VI,  268. 

*  Statutes  of  the  Eealm,  1  Henry  VII,  c.2. 


317]  THE  ESTABLISHMENT  OF  THE   TUDOR  DYNASTY  21 

and  Honorably  as  it  accordeth  to  the  Honor  of  your  Estate 
and  your  said  Realme  by  the  which  your  adversaries  and  enemyes 
shall  fall  into  the  drede  wherein  heretofore  they  have  byne," 
the  crown  estates  were  increased  by  the  resumptions  of  the  alien- 
ated portions.5  The  Duchy  of  Cornwall,  the  Earldom  of  Rich- 
mond and  other  lands  were  assured  to  the  crown.6  Finally, 
acts  of  attainder  were  passed  against  Richard,  Duke  of  Glou- 
cester, John,  Duke  of  Norfolk,  the  Earl  of  Surrey,  Francis 
Lovell,  Walter  Devereux,  Lord  Ferrers,  John  Lord  Zouche,  Rich- 
ard Ratcliffe,  William  Catesby  and  others,  and  their  lands  were 
confiscated.7  Even  though  important  and  numerous  exceptions 
were  made  to  the  resumptions,  and  lands  were  restored  to  persons 
attainted  under  Richard  III,8  the  crown  estates  were  greatly 
increased  by  these  acts.  Whereas  the  income  from  lands  had 
been  £6,471  a  year  during  the  last  year  of  Edward  IV 's  reign, 
it  was  £13,633  during  the  first  year  of  Henry  VII.9 

These  revenue  acts,  and  especially  the  statutes  of  resumption, 
confiscation  and  forfeiture  satisfied  the  desires  and  interests 
of  both  the  king  and  the  commons.  They  were  the  beginnings 
of  a  revenue  system  which  would  become  adequate  for  the 
needs  of  the  state  and  relieve  the  middle  class,  at  the  expense 
first,  of  the  merchants,  especially  foreigners,  in  whose  control 
most  of  the  foreign  trade  lay ;  and  secondly,  of  the  common  ene- 
my, the  feudal  nobility.  The  customs  revenues  and  rents  of 

5  The  first  resumption  comprehended  all  the  lands  of  the  Duchy  of 
Lancaster  in  the  possession  of  Edward  IV  on  March  4,  in  the  first  year 
of  his  reign  or  at  any  time  thereafter,  or  in  the  hands  of  Richard  III  at 
any  time  in  his  reign,  with  the  revocation  of  all  their  grants  and  aliena- 
tions from  the  Duchy  (Bot.  Parl.,  VI,  271-272).  Later  in  the  same  session 
the  great  resumption  of  all  such  castles,  lordships,  honors,  manors  as 
Henry  VI  had  on  October  21,  1455,  aa  parcel  and  in  right  and  title  of 
the  crown  of  England  and  of  the  Duchies  of  Lancaster  and  Cornwall,  the 
Principality  of  Wales,  and  the  Earldom  of  Chester  was  made.  All  gifts, 
grants  and  leases  made  by  Kichard  III,  and  the  gifts  and  grants  of  offices 
made  by  Edward  IV  before  August  21,  1485,  were  annulled  (Ibid.,  VI, 
272,  336). 

e  Ibid.,  VI,  272. 

7  Ibid.,  VI,  276. 

s  Ibid.,  VI,  339-385. 

»Exch.  of  Eeceipt,  Eeceipt  Eolls,  nos.  955,  958.  This  figure  does  not 
include  the  firma  comitatus,  or  the  fee  farms  of  the  cities. 


22  ENGLISH   GOVERNMENT   FINANCE  [318 

landed  estates  in  the  possession  or  control  of  the  crown  were 
the  bases  of  the  new  Tudor  revenue  system.  In  the  later  Tudor 
period  the  customs  became  more  important,  though  they  were 
never  neglected  from  the  beginning.  During  the  earlier  time 
the  chief  reliance  was  upon  the  crown  lands  and  the  special 
concern  was  to  increase  their  extent  and  value. 

The  use  of  landed  estates  as  a  chief  basis  of  the  new  revenue 
system,  which  political  exegencies  demanded,  was  made  possible 
by  the  advancing  economic  development  of  the  country.  In  the 
last  analysis  governmental  revenue  systems  are  efforts  to  turn 
the  chief  forms  of  wealth  of  the  country  most  efficiently  to  the 
support  of  the  state  with  due  regard  for  the  prevailing  political 
idea  or  theory.  Their  nature  varies  with,  and  corresponds, 
sometimes  tardily  to  the  changing  economic  development  and 
organization  of  the  country.  In  the  Middle  Ages,  when  commun- 
ication was  poor,  the  country  economically  disunited  and  the 
state  in  general  weak,  feudal  aids  and  incidents,  the  profits  of 
jurisdictions  and  the  farms  of  the  demesne  lands  of  the  king 
by  the  sheriffs  were  the  most  effective  means  of  diverting  the 
wealth  of  the  country,  in  its  form  of  land  to  the  support  of 
the  government.  But  towards  the  close  of  the  fifteenth  century, 
communication  improved,  money  economy  had  developed  rapidly, 
book  keeping  of  a  more  modern  form  made  possible  exact  super- 
vision from  a  distance,  England  became  more  conomically  unified, 
and  London  became  the  economic  as  well  as  the  political  capital 
of  most  of  England.  The  extension  of  the  domestic  system  in 
the  fifteenth  century,  and  its  national  regulation  by  the  truck 
act  of  1465,  the  regulation  of  the  corn  trade  by  the  government, 
the  parliamentary  recognition  of  craft  guilds,  the  protection  of 
native  artisans,  and  the  complete  adoption  by  the  Tudors  of  the 
mercantilist  policy  foreshadowed  in  the  legislation  of  Richard 
II,  are  special  phases  of  the  expansion  of  the  economic  unit 
and  the  more  perfect  nationalization  of  the  economic  life  of 
the  country. 

This  more  perfect  unification  made  practicable  a  more  effective 
means  of  turning  land,  at  the  outset  of  the  Tudor  period  still 
the  chief  form  of  wealth,  to  the  support  of  the  state.  It  was 
now  possible  for  the  crown  to  manage  directly  from  London 
and  to  receive  in  money  payments  the  rents  and  issues, of  vast 


319]  THE  ESTABLISHMENT  OF  THE   TUDOR  DYNASTY  23 

estates  owned  or  controlled  by  the  crown  in  the  several  counties. 
On  these  lands  and  manors  the  demesnes  were  let  on  leases  for 
money  rents,  and  the  peasant  holdings  were  under  the  direction 
of  royal  bailiffs  and  stewards,  the  whole  overseen  by  crown 
surveyors  controlled  directly  from  London  by  the  expert  ac- 
countants in  the  government  service. 

The  beginnings  of  this  use  of  lands  as  one  basis  for  a  revenue 
reach  back  into  the  early  fifteenth  century.  The  Duchies  of 
Lancaster  and  Cornwall  foreshadowed  the  new  system;  the 
confiscations  of  Edward  IV  were  a  groping  toward  it.  Richard 
III  drew  up  a  plan  of  central  administration  and  control  of 
large  landed  estates.10  Henry  VII  favored  by  the  coincidence 
of  economic  practicability  and  the  political  desire  of  the  most 
forceful  group  of  his  subjects  brought  to  realization  the  tenden- 
cies and  plans  of  the  past  decades. 


See  below,  chapter  VI. 


CHAPTER  III 

THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  THE  NEW  REVENUE  SYSTEM 
CUSTOMS  AND  CROWN  LANDS 

"Being  a  king  that  loved  wealth  and  treasure,"  says  Bacon 
of  Henry  VII,  "he  could  not  endure  to  have  trade  sick."  He 
fostered  commerce  by  opening  new  markets  for  English  trade 
and  by  bettering  old  facilities.  Treaties  with  Denmark  in  14$9 
and  1490  opened  Iceland,  renewed  privileges  to  English  mer- 
chants in  Norway,  especially  at  Bergen,  and  taken  with  the  un- 
ratified  treaty  with  Riga  in  1499  were  attempts  to  break  the 
Hanseatic  League's  monopoly  of  the  Baltic.  Trading  relations 
with  the  Netherlands  were  reestablished  by  the  Intercursus 
Magnus  of  1496  with  a  removal  of  restrictions  imposed  during 
the  past  fifty  years.  The  treaty  of  1486  with  France  provided 
for  free  intercourse  and  the  removal  of  all  special  burdens 
imposed  during  the  past  twenty-one  years.  Nine  years  later, 
as  a  price  of  his  neutrality  in  the  Italian  war,  Henry  compelled 
Charles  VIII  to  restore  other  ancient  trade  privileges.  The 
English  penetration  of  the  Mediterranean  was  furthered  by 
the  treaty  of  Medino  del  Campo  with  Spain,  and  the  pact  with 
Florence  in  1490. 

In  the  later  years  of  the  reign,  Henry  VII  stimulated  foreign 
trade  by  advancing  capital  to  English  and  Italian  merchants, 
to  the  extent  of  at  least  £87,000  between  1505  and  1509.  The 
king  accepted  no  interest,  as  indeed  it  was  illegal  for  him  to 
do;  but  he  required  that  the  borrower  bind  himself  to  import 
into  England  enough  goods  each  year,  as  long  as  the  loan 
stood,  to  pay  certain  amounts  in  customs  dues.1 

In  this  fashion,  by  providing  easy  conditions  of  trade  and 
credit,  Henry  VII  developed  his  customs  revenues.  He  did 

i  Exch.,  Treasury  of  Eeceipt,  Misc.  Books,  214. 

24 


321]  DEVELOPMENT  OF   THE  NEW  REVENUE  SYSTEM  25 

not  make  any  but  unimportant  increases  in  the  existing  duties 
of  the  tonnage  and  poundage  and  the  old  and  new  customs. 
He  satisfied  himself  with  the  increased  revenues  resulting  from 
an  increase  in  the  bulk  of  transactions.  He  tried  further  to 
abolish  the  exemptions  and  special  privileges  of  foreign  mer- 
chants in  England  and  to  secure  more  faithful  fulfillment 
of  their  duties  by  custom  house  officials.  A  better  valuation 
of  the  goods  upon  which  duty  was  paid  was  probably,  secured 
by  the  substitution  in  1507  of  an  official  Book  of  Rates  for  the 
port  of  London,  for  the  declaration  by  the  merchant  on  his 
oath.2  During  the  first  ten  years  of  the  reign,  the  customs 
revenues  averaged  £32,951  a  year;  during  the  remainder  of 
the  reign  they  were  increased  to  £40,132  a  year.3 

For  many  years  the  customs  yielded  a  revenue  larger  than 
the  crown  rents  and  other  income  based  on  land.  Yet  it  was 
in  the  increase1  of  the  landed  revenues  that  the  most  rapid  and 
remarkable  progress  was  made.  The  resumptions  and  confix 
cations  made  in  the  Parliament  of  1486  more  than  doubled 
the  value  of  the  royal  estates  proper.  Since  however  £7,723 
of  the  rents  was  at  once  assigned  to  the  maintenance  of  the 
household  and  wardrobe  each  year,*  there  were  only  a  few 
thousand  pounds  available  for  the  king 's  other  purposes.  During 
the  next  ten  years,  large  additions  were  made  to  the  crown 
estates  by  the  attainder  and  the  forfeiture  of  the  estates  of 
Sir  Simon  Montford,  Sir  Robert  Ratcliffe,  William  Daubeney, 
Humphrey  Stafford  and  others,  and  especially  of  Sir  William 
Stanley  "the  richest  subject  for  value  in  the  kingdom."  From 
his  castle  of  Holt,  the  Treasurer  of  the  Chamber  received  £9,062 
in,  ready  money  beside  the  small  sum  realized  from  the  sale 
of  his  goods;5  and  his  lands  yielded  the  king  over  £1,000  a 
year  clear.6  The  lands  of  Cecilie,  Duchess  of  York,  valued  at 

2  Gras,  Tudor  Books  of  Bates,  Quarterly  Journal  of  Economics,  XXVI, 
766ff. 

3  The  whole  subject  of  the  customs  and  the  commercial  policy  of  Henry 
VII,  and  of  Henry  VIII  is  admirably  and  exhaustively  treated  by  Georg 
Schanz,  Englische  Handelspolitik  gegen  Ende  des  Mittelalters. 

*  Eot .  Parl,  VI,  299f . 

s  Accounts,  Exch.,  Queen's  'Remembrancer,  413/2,  f.  85. 

6  Exch.,  Treasury  of  Receipt,  Misc.  Books,  212. 


26  ENGLISH   GOVERNMENT   FINANCE  [322 

£1,200  a  year  came  into  the  king's  hands  by  escheat,7  and 
Parliament  made  the  further  resumptions  of  the  alienated  por- 
tions of  the  manor  of  Woodstock  and  of  all  the  York  lands.8 
Other  great  additions  to  the  crown  lands  were  made  later,  by  the 
acquisition  of  the  queen's  land,  on  the  death  of  Queen  Eliza- 
beth, and  of  the  lands  of  Jasper,  Duke  of  Bedford,  of  Sir 
Francis  Cheyne,  of  Edward  de  la  Pole,  of  Lord  Ferrers  and  of 
Lord  Audeley,  leader  of  the  Cornish  rebels.9 

Henry  VII  was  not  content  merely  to  increase  the  extent  of 
the  crown  estates;  he  sought  to  make  their  revenues  as  produc- 
tive as  possible.  In  February  of  1486,  Sir  Reginald  Bray, 
Chancellor  of  the  Duchy  of  Lancaster  was  ordered  to  carry 
out  a  " reformation"  of  officials  in  charge  of  the  royal  lands 
as  far  as  was  thought  necessary  "for  our  most  profit  and  avail,"10 
and  in  the  following  year  an  act  of  Parliament  not  only  annulled 
all  grants  of  office  of  receiver,  auditor,  customer,  collector  of 
customs  and  subsidies,  controller,  searcher,  surveyor,  ' '  aunager, ' ' 
but  revoked  all  leases  on  manors  and  lordships  of  the  king,  in 
order  to  enable  the  king  "providently"  to  make  new  leases 
"for  his  most  profit  and  approvement  of  his  revenues."  "  Again, 
in  1495  all  leases  in  the  Principality  of  Wales  were  declared 
void  by  Parliament,  because  "much  less  rent  reserved  unto  the 
king  and  the  prince  than  the  said  lordships  manors  lands  and 
tenements  might  reasonably  be  set  for. ' ' 12  The  success  of 
this  policy  of  maximum  productivity  can  be  illustrated  very 
well  in  the  case  of  the  Duchy  of  Lancaster.  It  was  the  practice 
after  the  first  years  of  the  reign,  to  pay  the  clear  surplus  of 
the  revenues  of  the  Duchy,  after  all  allowances  had  been  made, 
fees  and  annuities  paid,  and  the  assignments  in  favor  of  the 
household  and  wardrobe  discharged,  into  the  Treasury  of  the 
Chamber.  In  1488  the  Treasurer  of  the  Chamber  received 
£666  13s.  4d.  from  the  Chancellor  of  the  Duchy;  in  1490  £2,800; 

7  Exch.,  Treasury  of  Receipt,  Misc.  Books,  212. 
s  Rot.  Port.,  VI,  459-462. 

9  These  acquisitions  from  time  to  time  can  be  traced  in  the  memoranda 
iu  the  back  of  the  account  books  of  the  Treasurer  of  the  Chamber,  espec- 
ially Exch.,  Treasury  of  Eeceipt,  214. 

10  Campbell,  Materials  for  a  History  of  the  Eeign  of  Henry  VII,  I,  324. 
"  Rot.  Part.,  VI,  403. 

12  Ibid.,  VI,  465. 


323]  DEVELOPMENT  OF   THE  NEW  REVENUE   SYSTEM  27 

in  1495  £3,600;  in  1499  £4,400;  in  1504  £5,368  and  in  1508 
£6,566.13 

The  increase  of  the  revenues  from  the  crown  estates  proper 
as  a  whole,  as  the  result  of  Henry  VII 's  various  measures  was 
remarkable.  The  clear  annual  yield  from  the  crown  lands 
in  the  first  years  of  the  reign  was  about  £10,000  ;14  of  which 
£7,723  was  assigned  by  act  of  Parliament  as  has  been  noted, 
for  the  payment  of  the  costs  of  the  household  and  wardrobe, 
leaving  about  £2,500  available  for  other  purposes.  This  clear 
excess,  after  all  expenses  of  collection  and  administration  and 
all  assignments  for  household  and  wardrobe  (which  in  practice 
ranged  from  £7,500  to  £4,650  a  year)  had  been  paid,  increased 
very  rapidly.  In  1491  it  was  £3,764  18s.  7d.;  in  1494  £7,789 
17s.  7d. ;  in  1497  £12,746  17s  2d. ;  in  1503  £20,689  8s.  lid.  and 
in  1504  £24,145  4s.  10d.15 

Much  attention  has  been  attracted  to  Henry  VII 's  revival 
of  feudal  relations  and  his  refurbishing  of  the  royal  feudal 
rights.  Cities  and  gilds  paid  handsomely  for  the  confirmation 
of  their  liberties.16  Every  year  after  1494  men  were  fined 
for  not  appearing  to  be  made  Knights  of  the  Bath.17  In  1504 
the  king  requested  Parliament  for  the  two  feudal  aids  to  which 
he  was  entitled  ' '  on  the  knighting  of  his  son  Arthur,  now  dead, ' ' 
and  on  the  marriage  of  his  eldest  daughter  to  the  King  of  Scot- 
land.18 In  1486,  1500  and  1503  proclamations  were  issued, 
ordering  all  men  with  £40  a  year  in  lands  to  take  up  knight- 
hood.19 Henry's  object  in  compelling  men  to  take  up  knighthood 

is  Accounts  Exch.,  Queen's  Remembrancer,  413/2,  I;  414/6;  Add.  Mss. 
21480. 

14  Duchy  of  Lancaster,  Accounts  Various  6/1,  6/7. 

is Accounts,  Exch.,  Queen's  Remembrancer,  413/2,  I,  II;  414/6; 
414/16;  Add.  Mss.  21480. 

is  The  men  of  Cheshire  paid  £2,000  for  the  confirmation  of  their  liber- 
ties, with  a  pardon  for  their  intrusions  and  alienations  (Accounts,  Exch., 
Queen's  Remembrancer,  413/2,  III;  Lansd.  Mss.,  127,  f.  37).  The  merchant 
tailors  paid  £100  to  have  their  liberties  enrolled.  (Lansd.  Mss.,  127,  f.  16) 
The  citizens  of  London  paid  5000  marks  for  the  confirmation  of  their 
lil>erties.  (Fabyan's  Chronicle,  688). 

if  In  one  year  fines  of  £1125  13s.  4d.  were  collected  on  this  account. 
Accounts,  Exch.,  Queen's  Remembrancer,  413/12,  II,  III. 

is  Rot.  Part.,  VI,  532. 

is  Campbell,  Materials,  II,  76;  Eymer  Foedera  O.  XII,  770;  Gairdner, 
Letters  and  Papers,  Richard  III  and  Henry  VII,  II,  379. 


28  ENGLISH   GOVERNMENT   FINANCE  [324 

was  not  to  levy  fines  for  neglect  to  do,  but  to  bring  as  great  as 
possible  a  portion  of  the  land  of  England  into  feudal  relations 
with  the  crown  as  a  matter  of  recent  record.  The  two  feudal  aids 
requested  in  1504,  would  have  given  an  opportunity  and  legal 
occasion  to  search  out  all  titles  and  tenures,  and  make  a  new 
record  of  those  lands  which  were  held  directly  of  the  crown, 
in  capite.20 

Land  holden  of  knight  service  in  capite  was  subject  to  the  in- 
cidents of  wardship  and  marriage  upon  the  death  of  the  holder, 
if  his  heir  was  a  minor  or  a  woman;  and  to  escheat  into  the 
king's  hands,  upon  the  holder's  death  without  heirs.  The 
further  extension  of  the  crown  domains  temporarily  by  ward- 
ships and  marriages,  permanently  by  escheat  was  the  real  pur- 
pose of  what  has  hitherto  been  regarded  as  petty  insistence 
on  outgrown  and  forgotten  feudal  obligations. 

The  protection  of  the  king's  rights  in  lands  held  in  capite, 
and  the  transference  of  all  marriages,  wardships  and  escheats, 
legally  due,  to  the  king's  hands,  was  assured  by  the  rather 
notorious  Inquisiti&nes  post  mortem  of  the  reign.  On  the 
death  of  a  man  who  held  land  of  the  king  or  was  suspected  of 
doing  so,  it  was  usual  for  the  Court  of  Chancery  to  issue  a  writ 
to  the  escheator  of  the  district  to  conduct  an  inquiry  to  ascer- 
tain the  extent  of  the  possessions ;  and  the  tenures  by  which  they 
were  held,  the  heirs  and  their  age,  and  whatever  else  might 
be  needful  that  the  king  receive  the  profits  justly  due  him. 
The  royal  policy  is  explained  by  a  letter  of  1495,  which  though 
written  to  Irish  officials,  is  applicable  to  England,  and  explains 
the  policy  there  followed.  "Item  to  have  a  remembrance  to 
see  that  all  escheators  may  duly  inquire  upon  the  writs  of  diem 
clausit  extremum  and  such  other  writs  of  mandatum  after  the 
death  of  the  king's  tenants,  of  their  lands,  and  the  age  of  their 
heirs  and  of  their  tenure,  and  that  the  true  extents  may  be 
made  thereof  and  so  returned;  and  then  both  the  ferme  of  the 
wardships  where  such  happen  and  also  the  king's  relief  and 

20  The  Commons  recognized  the  king 's  purpose.  Because  of  their  great 
uneasiness  on  account  of  "the  search  and  non-knowledge  of  their  several 
tenures,  and  of  their  lands  chargeable  to  the  same"  aids,  the  Commons 
prayed  the  king  accept  £40,000  in  place  of  the  aids.  The  king,  defeated 
in  his  purpose,  graciously  covered  his  retreat  by  remitting  £10,000  of  the 
grant.  Eot.  Parl,  VI,  532 ;  Eoper,  Life  of  More,  12. 


325]  DEVELOPMENT  OF   THE  NEW  REVENUE   SYSTEM  29 

such  other  profits  shall  be  the  more ;  and  if  ye  think  the  escheat- 
or  to  be  favorable  to  the  party  or  insufficient  or  indiscreet 
whereby  the  profit  of  the  king  may  be  hurt  by  the  finding  of 
any  such  inquisition  as  is  daily  in  England  to  the  king's  great 
hurt :  howbeit  his  council  think  that  some  time  if  a  fine  be  made 
for  the  recompense  of  the  profits  thereof  the  king  shall  have  no 
loss  nothing  remembering  the  hurt  of  the  crown  which  shall  en- 
sue for  lack  of  a  matter  of  record;  but  it  were  better  for  the 
title  of  the  king  and  of  his  heirs  to  lose  such  profit  which 
needeth  not  if  true  and  sufficient  officers  be  deputed,  that  the 
king's  title  were  found  of  record,  and  to  cause  such  sufficient 
persons  to  be  commissioners  to  inquire  after  the  decease  of 
all  such  tenants,  so  that  the  king's  title  might  be  found  of  record, 
but  that  shall  not  be  only  for  the  profit  of  the  king,  but  also 
of  his  heirs. ' ' 21  The  last  sentence  quoted  is  especially  illumin- 
ating. Even  though  a  large  fine  to  the  king  for  the  relin- 
quishment  of  his  rights  would  in  some  cases  yield  a  larger  im- 
mediate gain,  it  was  of  greater  importance  that  the  king's 
rights  be  reasserted  and  found  of  record;  since  in  that  way 
the  profits  of  wardships  and  marriages  in  the  future  would  come 
to  the  king's  hand,  and  the  land  itself  might  eventually  come 
into  possession  of  the  crown,  by  escheat,  either  during  Henry 
VII 's  own  lifetime  or  later. 

To  keep  a  check  upon  the  escheator,  who  was  a  local  official 
and  perhaps  too  well  disposed  to  the  family  of  the  deceased, 
the  Chancery  clerks  probably  examined  very  carefully  the  rec- 
ords of  previous  inquisitions;  and  the  Exchequer  records  too, 
as  was  commanded  in  Ireland.22  If,  when  compared  with  the 
information  from  these  sources,  the  inquisition  was  found  to 
be  faulty,  it  was  returned  with  a  writ  ad  melius  inquirendum. 
In  some  cases  the  escheator  was  joined  by  a  royal  commissioner 
or  even  superseded  entirely,  doubtless  in  order  that  the  rights 
of  the  crown  might  be  ascertained  most  completely.  In  their 

21  Royal  Mss.  18c.  XIV,  f .  231.     The  document  is  printed  with  the  in- 
sertion of  words  which  destroy  its  meaning  in  Gairdner,  Letters  and  Papers, 
Eichard  III  and  Henry  VII,  II,  65-66. 

22  Gairdner,  Letters  and  Papers,  Eichard  III  and  Henry   VII,  II,  66. 
Empson  and  Dudley  searched  in   the   Exchequer  records  for   information 
about  tenures,  and  Heron,  Treasurer  of  the  Chamber,  seems  to  have  had 
information  from  spies.     See  below  p.  30,  n.  45. 


30  ENGLISH   GOVERNMENT   FINANCE  [326 

eagerness  to  profit  the  crown,  these  officials  went  so  far  as  to 
cause  untrue  "offices"  or  verdicts  to  be  found,  sometimes  re- 
turned into  the  courts  of  record  offices  and  inquisitions  that 
had  never  been  found,  and  sometimes  changed  the  matter  of 
offices  that  were  truly  found  "to  the  great  hurt  and  disheryson 
of  the  king's  true  subjects,  that  like  beforetime  have  not  been 
seen  in  the  realm,"  as  was  admitted  in  a  law  of  Henry  VIII 's 
reign,  designed  to  prevent  a  repetition  of  the  injustice  in  the 
future.23 

As  part  of  the  same  policy  Henry  VII  insisted  that  heirs  of 
lands  held  of  the  crown  must  not  enter  upon  them  without 
suing  out  their  livery  from  the  king's  hands.  The  fines  for  the 
livery  of  lands  (except  in  cases  of  special  livery)  were  very 
small,  averaging  £437  a  year  for  the  last  four  years  of  the 
reign.2*  The  real  purpose  of  the  requirement  was  that  the 
transfer  to  the  n,ew  heir  might  be  a  matter  of  record,  and  might 
not  be  made  prejudicial  to  the  king's  rights.  If  the  heir  entered 
without  suing  his  livery,  no  record  of  the  king's  rights  in  the 
land  against  the  new  possessor  would  exist,  or  his  rights  might 
otherwise  be  injured,  and  it  was  to  prevent  this  that  intrusion 
upon  lands  by  heirs,  that  is  entry  without  the  king's  writ,  was 
punished  by  a  large  fine,  by  confiscation  of  the  rents  from  the 
death  of  the  former  holder  until  such  time  as  suit  for  livery 
was  made,  or  even  by  confiscation  of  the  land  itself.25 

Though  eventual  escheat  of  lands  held  "in  capite"  was  of 
first  importance,  the  profits  of  wardship  and  marriage  were  not 
inconsiderable.  In  some  cases  the  king's  rights  of  wardship  and 
marriage  were  sold;26  but  as  a  rule  the  king  retained  the  lands 

23  Statutes  of  the  Eealm,  1,  Henry  VIII,  c.  8. 

z*Exch.,  Treasury  of  Receipt,  Misc.  Books,  211,  book  of  fines  for  writs 
of  entry  before  the  King's  Bench,  annis  21-24  Henry  VII. 

25  Examples  of  fines  of  intrusion  taken  from  Lands.  Mss.  127  are,  Sir 
William  Say,  2,500  marks;   Sir  Philip  Calthrop,  £500;    Sir  Edward  Har- 
ward  and  Alice  his  wife,  £533.     John  Heron,  Treasurer  of  the  Chamber, 
in  his  account  books,  especially  in  Add.  Mss.  21,480  has  noted  the  names  of 
those  who  have  had  no  livery  of  their  lands,  the  rents  of  which  belong  to 
the  king  until  the  suit  for  livery  is  made.     In  Exchequer  of  Receipt,  Misc. 
Books,  253,  there  is  a  list  of  lands  in  the  king's  hand,  "ratione  intru- 
sionum"  annis  21-22  Henry  VII.  • 

26  In  the  first  year  of  Henry  VII,  £1,803  was  realized  from  the  sale 
of  the  king's  rights  of  wardship  and  marriage.    Exch.  of  Receipt,  Receipt 
Rolls,  nos.  955-958.     Such  sales  continued  throughout  the  entire  reign. 


327]  DEVELOPMENT  OF   THE  NEW  REVENUE  SYSTEM  31 

of  wards  in  his  own  hands  and  administered  them  for  his  own 
profit  through  his  ministers  and  receivers,  just  like  the  rest 
of  the  crown  estates  of  which  they  were  practically  a  part  for 
the  time.  From  a  few  hundred  pounds  in  1487,  income  from 
ward's  lands  increased  to  more  than  £6,000  in  the  year  1507.27 
This  may  perhaps  be  taken  as  a  measure  of  the  success  of  the 
king  in  reasserting  his  ancient  feudal  ownership  and  its  obliga- 
tions. 

Closely  analogous  to  the  feudal  incidents  taken  from  lay 
subjects  was  the  practice  of  the  king's  taking  possession  of  the 
temporalities  of  abbots  and  bishops  when  they  died.  The 
estates  were  administered  by  the  king  during  the  vacancy  of  the 
office,  and  when  the  new  bishop  or  abbot  was  elected  he  made  a 
large  fine  to  the  king  for  the  restoration  of  his  possessions. 
As  Bacon  observed,  it  yi.  was  Henry  VII  's  practice  to  advance 
bishops  from  one  see  to  another  "by  steps,  that  he  might  not 
lose  the  profit  of  the  first  fruits. ' ' 28  The  income  from  this 
source  was  of  course  subject  to  great  fluctuations,  depending 
upon  the  number  of  bishops  and  abbots  who  died  in  the  course 
of  a  year.  Thus  in  the  summer  of  1492  the  Treasurer  of  the 
Chamber  received  £1,800  from  the  bishop  of  Bath's  lands j  in 
1494  £1,200  from  the  temporalities  of  Bath  and  Durham,  and 
in  1495  a  larger  sum  from  the  temporalities  of  Lincoln.  In 
the  year  1503  the  total  payments  of  this  nature  to  the  Treasurer 
of  the  Chamber  were  £1,673  6s.  8d.j  in  1504,  £6,049  10s.  6d. 
and  in  1505,  £5,339  2s.  Id.29 

27  Income  from  ward's  lands  under  Crown  management: 

£    353  6s.     8d.  Accts,  Exch.  Q.  E.  413/2  I. 

343  6s.     8d.  Accts.  Exch.  Q.  E.  413/2  II. 

1,588  Os.     Od.  Ibid. 

3,003  Os.     Od.  Exch.  T.  E.,  Misc.  Books,  247,  pp.  72-100  Mich. 
1503-1504. 

1505  5,422  8s.  lOd.  Ibid.,  Mich.  1504-1505. 

1506  5,626  3s.  lid.  Exch.   T.  E.,  Misc.  Books,  248,  pp.   1-98  Mieh. 

1505-1506. 

1507  6,163  15s.     5d.     Ibid.,  pp.  99-222,  Mich.  1506-1507. 

28  Bacon,  Henry  VII,  19. 

. .  29  Accounts,  Exch.,  Queen's  Eemembrancer,  413/2  II,  III.  The  payments 
were  probably  even  larger.  In  these  books,  with  no  reason  given  for  the 
payment,  are  many  sums  from  bishops,  abbots  and  priors,  who  according  to 
Le  Neve's  Fasti  had  just  taken  office.  These  were  certainly  payments  for 


32  ENGLISH   GOVERNMENT   FINANCE  [328 

Such,  in  a  brief  sketch,  were  the  main  lines  of  development 
of  Henry  VII 's  new  revenue  system.  The  fostering  of  trade 
and  the  increase  of  the  customs  receipts  proceeded  more  quietly 
than  the  augmentation  of  the  crown  estates,  and  the  extension 
of  royal  rights  and  claims  over  the  land  of  the  kingdom.  In 
these  matters,  the  organized  disorder  of  the  last  thirty  years 
was  still  an  obstacle,  and  sometimes  demanded  the  use  of  the 
strongest  and  the  most  unscrupulous  measures  by  the  king  and 
his  ministers. 


restitution  of  temporalities,  but  because  of  possible  doubt  they  have  not 
been  included. 


CHAPTER  IV 

OBLIGATIONS  AND  RECOGNIZANCES: 
THE  WORK  OF  EMPSON  AND  DUDLEY 

Among  the  entries  of  payments  to  the  Treasurer  of  the 
Chamber  certain  miscellaneous  payments  "by  obligation"  begin 
to  appear  in  1493.  Before  the  end  of  the  reign,  payments  upon 
obligations,  together  with  somewhat  similar  payments  "by  rec- 
ognizance ' '  became  very  important.  In  the  year  Michaelmas  1493 
to  Michaelmas  1494  less  than  £3,000  was  received  at  the  Treas- 
ury of  the  Chamber  in  this  way;  but  in  the  year  Michaelmas 
1504  to  Michaelmas  1505  £30,824  18s.  4d.  were  received  by 
obligation  and  £4,175  by  recognizance.  Obligations  and  rec- 
ognizances were  bonds,  providing  either  for  the  deferred  pay- 
mnt  of  some  debt  due  to  the  king,  or  for  the  forfeit  or  payment 
of  some  sum  to  the  king  contingent  upon  a  future  event.  An 
obligation  to  pay  the  king  a  certain  sum  in  installments  for 
customs  dues  belongs  to  the  first  class ;  a  recognizance  for  faith- 
ful performance  in  office  with  the  forfeit  of  the  bond  in  case 
of  failure  to  do  so  belongs  to  the  second  class. 

Unfortunately  in  nearly  all  cases  the  entries  of  payment 
upon  obligations  or  recognizances  in  the  receipt  book  of  the 
Treasurer  of  the  Chamber  run  very  briefly,  as  "Received  of 
the  Abbott  of  Abbingdon  by  Recognizance  £100,"  and  do  not 
specify  the  reason  for  which  the  money  was  due.  In  the  back 
part  however,  of  his  books  of  payments,  John  Heron,  Treasurer 
of  the  Chamber,  kept  careful  lists  of  all  the  obligations  and 
recognizances  in  his  hands,  upon  which  money  was  due  to  the 
king.  These  lists,  which  in  some  cases  bear  the  marks  of  the 
king's  examination,  in  notes  in  his  own  hand,  give  a  fuller 
description  of  the  bonds  that  is  found  in  the  books  of  receipt. 
They  show  that  obligations  and  recognizances  were  made  for 

33 


34  ENGLISH   GOVERNMENT  FINANCE  [330 

the  payment  of  money  to  the  king,  for  many  reasons  —  for  the 
restitution  of  bishops'  temporalities,  for  loans  made  by  the 
king  to  Italian  and  English  merchants,  for  the  money  remaining 
in  the  hands  of  the  Mayor  and  Fellowship  of  the  Calais  Staple 
after  they  had  paid  the  wages  of  the  garrison  there,  for  arrears 
of  accounts  in  the  hands  of  the  king's  receivers,  for  the  pur- 
chase of  wards,  for  licenses  to  export  wool  and  to  import  wines, 
for  deferred  customs  (often  for  very  large  amounts  especially  for 
customs  at  Southampton)  and  for  the  hire  of  the  king's  ships. 
Then  there  were  recognizances  for  fines  of  various  sorts,  those 
assessed  in  court  for  offences,  those  made  by  culprits  for  release 
from  prison  or  for  pardon  of  their  offences,  fines  laid  upon 
sheriffs  and  especially  upon  bishops  for  the  escape  of  prisoners 
from  their  prisons,  and  those  assessed  upon  the  rebels  in  Kent 
and  in  the  southwest  after  the  Cornishmen's  rebellion.  There 
were  also  bonds  for  faithful  performance  of  duty  in  royal  offices, 
for  the  keeping  of  the  peace  and  for  good  conduct. 

While  all  the  bonds  made  in  favor  of  the  king  appear  in  these 
lists,  the  reason  for  the  bond  is  not  always  given  even  here, 
and  from  Heron's  lists  it  is  not  possible  to  make  any  definite 
statement  about  the  exact  relative  importance  of  the  various 
classes  of  these  obligations  in  relation  to  the  crown  revenue. 
One  of  the  most  important  single  classes  of  obligations  however, 
was  that  of  bonds  taken  by  John  Dawtry  for  the  deferred  pay- 
ment of  customs  at  the  port  of  Southampton.  These  averaged 
about  £7,000  a  year,  during  the  last  years  of  the  reign.1  Obliga- 
tions for  loans,  for  the  restitution  of  temporalities  and  for  ward- 
ships were  also  very  important.  The  returns  from  fines  and 
pardons  sold,  excepting  the  fines  levied  on  the  Cornish  rebels, 
were  not  very  great;  at  least  as  late  as  Michaelmas  1505,  when 
Heron's  receipt  books  end. 

Further  light  is  thrown  upon  the  subject  by  a  study  of  the 
activity  of  Empson  and  Dudley;  for  it  was  in  connection  with 
these  payments  by  recognizances  and  obligations  that  they 
worked,  and  it  was  on  the  basis  of  this  work  that  the  traditional 
story  of  their  exactions  grew  up. 

Edmond  Dudley,  commoner,  was  educated  at  Oxford;  and 
trained  in  law  at  Gray's  Inn,  London,  and  so  was  one  of  the 
.,  Treasury  of  Receipt,  Misc.  Books,  214,  pp.  477,  509,  577. 


331]  OBLIGATIONS    AND    RECOGNIZANCES  35 

great  company  of  men  versed  in  the  new  learning  and  in  the 
law,  who  were  making  their  sovereigns'  fortunes  and  their 
own  at  the  end!  of  the  fifteenth,  and  the  beginning  of  the  six- 
teenth centuries  in  all  the  courts  of  western  Europe.  He  helped 
to  negotiate  the  peace  of  Etaples  in  1492 ;  in  1497  he  was  under- 
sheriff  of  London,  and  in  1504  he  was  Speaker  of  the  House 
of  Commons.  In  the  autumn  of  the  same  year  he  entered  the 
employment  of  Henry  VII  in  the  peculiar  capacity  of  some 
sort  of  financial  agent  in  which  he  was  to  win  so  much  fame. 

Richard  Empson  was  also  a  lawyer;  somewhat  older  and 
longer  in  Henry  VII 's  service.  Empson  became  attorney  gen- 
eral of  the  Duchy  of  Lancaster  in  1485 ;  in  1491  he  was  speaker 
of  the  House  of  Commons;  in  1493  he  was  receiver  of  certain 
of  the  king's  manors  and  in  charge  of  the  wood-sales  from  the 
king's  lands.2  As  late  as  1505-1506  he  was  still  receiver  of 
the  wood-sales,3  but  in  the  meantime  he  had  risen  to  great 
offices  in  the  state.  In  1504  he  was  knighted,  nominated  High 
Steward  of  the  University  of  Cambridge  and  in  the  same  year 
he  became  Chancellor  of  the  Duchy  of  Lancaster  to  succeed 
Sir  Reginald  Bray.  As  early  as  1495  he  was  prominent  enough 
to  be  named  in  Warbeck 's 'proclamation  as  one  of  "the  caitiffs 
and  villains  of  simple  birth ' '  whose  subtle  inventions  and  pilling 
of  the  people  "supported  the  misrule  and  mischief"  then  reign- 
ing in  England.4  Beyond  these  bald  facts  little  has  been  known 
of  Empson  and  Dudley  or  their  work  apart  from  the  legend 
which  has  grown  up  about  them. 

To  trace  the  growth  of  the  legend  is  in  itself  rather  instruc- 
tive. Kingsford's  Chronicles,  which  are  practically  contempor- 
ary diaries,  make  no  mention  of  Empson  and  Dudley,  though 
they  do  record  the  mulcting  of  the  London  mayors  and  aldermen, 
—  Sir  William  Capel,  and  Thomas  Kneysworth  and  his  sheriffs, 
for  offences  in  office.5  The  continuation  of  Fabyan's  Chronicle 
from  1485  to  1509  which  was  written  after  1509  does  not  men- 
tion Empson  and  Dudley;  but  the  second  continuation  which 
appeared  in  1542  speaks  of  their  execution.6  Arnold's  Chron- 

2  Accounts,  Exch.,  Queen's  Remembrancer,  413/2  II,  f.  41b. 

a  Exch.,  Treasury  of  Receipt,  Misc.  Books,  212. 

*  Harl.  Mss.,  283,  f .  123. 

s  Kingsford's  Chronicles,  205,  261,  262. 

a  Fabyan,  Chronicle,  695. 


36  ENGLISH   GOVERNMENT   FINANCE  [332 

icle  which  was  printed  about  1521  tells  the  story  of  the  "trou- 
bles" of  the  London  mayors,  and  adds  that  this  happened  by 
the  king's  commandment  "by  means  of  Empson  and  Dudley."  7 
Finally  Polydore  Vergil  in  the  Historia  Anglica  which  was 
finished  in  1533  gives  the  story  of  Empson  and  Dudley  at  some 
length.  About  1501  Henry  VII  began  to  hate  civil  war  more 
than  death;  and  "he  resolved  to  take  such  measures  that  all 
material  for  disorder  of  this  kind  in  the  future  might  be  des- 
troyed; and  this  he  thought  he  would  achieve  onlyi  if  he  took 
his  subjects  down  a  little,  knowing  very  well  that  men  were 
easily  made  proud  by  abundance  of  possessions  and  loved  nothing 
more  than  wealth,  since  their  choice  of  peace  or  war  was  generally 
influenced  by  the  fear  of  loss  or  hope  of  gain.  But  that  it  might 
not  be  said  that  he  acted  unjustly  toward  men  whom  he  attacked, 
he  took  thought  of  how  he  might  act  with  a  show  of  right.  As 
he  thought  upon  this  it  occurred  to  him  that  his  people  were 
in  the  habit  of  paying  so  little  heed  to  the  laws  of  the  kingdom 
that  if  the  question  were  raised,  without  doubt  very  many  not 
only  of  the  distinguished  men,  but  also  of  the  merchants,  crafts- 
men, farmers  and  fishermen  would  be  found  guilty  of  violating 
them.  This  resolve  taken,  he  began  to  search  out  the  laws  and 
impose  small  fines  on  those  who  did  not  observe  them.  Then 
he  appointed  two  fiscal  judges  (fiscales  judices),  Richard  Emp- 
son and  Edmund  Dudley  men  learned  in  the  ancient  law  of  the 
realm.  That  they  might  find  the  greater  favor  with  the  king, 
these  men,  armed  with  a  horde  of  informers  who  reported  the 
names  of  offenders,  showed  more  zeal  for  collecting  money 
than  regard  for  justice,  the  danger  to  the  state,  and  their  proper 
functions,  altho  they  were  often  admonished  by  the  leading  men 
in  the  nation  to  be  less  exacting.  After  great  treasure  had  been 
heaped  up  however,  the  king,  moved  by  the  continual  prayers  of 
the  people  to  God  for  an  end  to  their  misery,  was  stirred  by 
thoughts  of  mercy  and  generosity,  and  resolved  to  have  done 
with  both  Empson  and  Dudley,  and  to  restore  their  money  to 
those  from  whom  it  had  been  extorted. ' ' 8 

Hall  translated  the  story  from  Vergil  almost  literally;  and 
addp  to  it  in  another  place  in  his  text  a  description  of  how 

i  Arnold,  Chronicle,  p.  XLIII. 
8  P.     £gil  Historia   755ff. 


333]  OBLIGATIONS    AND    RECOGNIZANCES  37 

Empson  and  Dudley  would  bring  against  a  man  an  action  of 
which  he  had  no  knowledge;  and  on  his  failure  to  appear  to 
answer  the  charge  he  was  outlawed  and  his  goods  confiscated. 
"These  outlawries,  old  recognizances  of  the  peace  and  good 
abearing,  escapes,  riots  and  innumerable  statutes  penal  were 
put  into  execution  and  called  upon  by  Empson  and  Dudley, 
so  that  every  man,  both  spiritualtie  and  temporaltie  having 
either  land  or  substance  was  called  to  this  pluckying  bancket 
according  to  the  Psalmist's  saying,  all  declyned  and  fell  together 
and  no  man  although  he  were  never  so  clere  and  guiltless  in 
conclusion  durst  aventure  a  tryall,  seynge  the  experience  of 
them  that  had  passed  afore.  For  these  two  ravenynge  wolves 
had  suche  a  guard  of  false  perjured  persons  appertaining  to 
them  which  were  by  their  commandment  empanyeled  on  every 
quest  that  the  king  was  sure  to  wynne,  whosoever  lost.  Learned 
men  in  the  laws  when  they  were  required  of  their  advice  would 
saye  to  agree  is  the  best  council  I  can  give  you.  By  this  undewe 
means  these  covetous  persons  filled  the  king's  coffers  and  en- 
riched themselves.  And  at  this  unreasonable  and  extort  doynge 
noble  men  grudged,  meane  men  kicked,  poor  men  lamented, 
preachers  openly  at  Paules  Cross  and  other  places  exclaimed 
rebuked  and  detested  but  yet  they  would  never  amend."9 

Bacon  next  took  the  story,  added  to  it  some  badly  remembered 
details  from  "a  book  of  accompt  of  Empson 's  that  had  the  King's 
hand  almost  to  every  leaf "  "  seen  long  since, ' ' 10  transfused  it 
with  his  own  wonderful  style  and  made  Empson  and  Dudley 
famous  forever  as  two  of  the  greatest  extortioners  in  history. 
The  finishing  touch  is  given  by  Sir  Robert  Cotton  in  his  little 
tract,  "A  Discourse  of  Foreign  War,"  where  he  wrote  "but 
that  whereby  he  (Henry  VII)  heaped  up  his  mass  of  Treasure 
.  .  was  by  sale  of  Offices,  redemption  of  Penalties,  dispencing 
with  laws  and  such  like  to  a  yearly  value  of  £120,000."  His 
authority  is  noted  in  the  margin  as  "Ex  Libr(o)  Acquittance 
inter  Regem  et  Dudley. ' '  u 

The  book  to  which  Sir  Robert  Cotton  referred  is  apparently 
Dudley's  book  of  accounts,  a  copy  of  which  is  preserved  among 

»  Hall,  Chronicle,  (Ed.  of  ^809),  502,  503. 

10  Bacon,  Henry  VII,  192,  193. 

11  Robert  Cotton,  A  Discourse  of  Foreign  War,  53. 


38  ENGLISH   GOVERNMENT   FINANCE  [334 

the  manuscripts  of  the  British  Museum.12  The  book  begins, 
"Memorand.  that  hereafter  followeth  all  such  obligations  and 
somes  of  money  as  I  Sir  Edmund  Dudeley  have  received  and 
had  of  any  person  for  any  fine  or  duty  to  be  paid  to  and  for 
the  use  of  our  most  dread  sovereign  lord  King  Henry  of  that 
name  the  Seventh,  since  the  first  time  that  I  the  said  Edmond 
entered  the  service  of  our  said  soveran  lord,  that  is  to  say  the 
9  day  of  September  the  20th  year  of  his  most  noble  reign." 
The  account,  covering  60  folios,  runs  from  the  9th  day  of  Sep- 
tember 1504  to  May  28, 1508.  The  entries  for  each  day  are  signed 
by  the  king  on  the  middle  of  the  page  directly  below  them,  and 
before  the  entries  for  the  next  day,  in  a  way  which  shows  that 
the  account  was  examined  by  the  king  himself  each  day  on  which 
entries  were  made.  Each  folio  is  added,  and  signed  by  Dudley. 
Obligations  were  made  to  the  king's  use  by  a  number  of  men 
beside  Empson  and  Dudley ;  generally  in  association  with  them, 
like  Richard  Fox  Bishop  of  Winchester,  Sir  Giles  Daubeney, 
Sir  Charles  Somerset,  Lord  Herbert,  Sir  Thomas  Lovell  and 
Sir  Henry  Wiot,  as  appers  from  those  obligations  which  have 
been  preserved.13  All  obligations  made  by  these  men  seem  to 
have  been  taken  in  charge  by  Dudley  and  were  delivered  by 
him  to  John  Heron,  Treasurer  of  the  Chamber,  who  collected 
the  sums  due  on  them.  The  obligations  made  by  John  Dawtry 
for  the  deferred  payments  of  the  customs  due  at  Southampton, 
the  obligations  for  the  re-payment  of  money  loaned  to  merchants 
by  the  king,  except  in  a  few  cases,  and  the  obligations  of  the 
Calais  Staple  except  in  the  year  1507-1508,  do  not  appear  in 
Dudley's  accounts.  But  apart  from  these  very  important 
classes  Dudley  entered  into  his  book  practically  all  the  obliga- 
tions and  recognizances  made  to  the  use  of  the  crown,  as  ap- 
pears from  a  comparison  of  the  totals  of  Dudley's  accounts 
and  of  John  Heron's  lists.14  The  figures  do  not  agree  with 
Sir  Robert  Cotton's.  The  sum  total  of  all  obligations,  recog- 
nizances and  money  (for  Dudley  generally  took  a  small  part 
payment  in  money)  received  by  Dudley  during  the  year  Sep- 

vtLansd.  Mss.,  127. 
is  Letters  and  Papers,  I,  342,  600,  642. 

i*  The   lists   kept   by   Heron  of   all   obligations   and   recognizances  for 
the  years  1505  to  1509  are  in  Exch.,  Treasury  of  Receipt,  Misc.  Books,  214. 


335]  OBLIGATIONS    AND    RECOGNIZANCES  39 

tember  9,  1504-Michaelmas  1505  was  £44,882  14s.  10d.;  for 
the  year  1505-1506,  £60,655  16s.  6d.;  for  the  year  1506-1507, 
£65,361 .13s.  7d.  and  from  Michaelmas  1507  to  May  28,  1508, 
£48,416  2s.  The  money  received  by  Dudley  varied  from  £2,700 
in  the  first  year  of  his  activity  to  £7,500  in  the  second  year, 
and  £10,000  in  each  of  the  two  last  years.  After  these  sums 
are  deducted  from  the  totals  received,  the  remainders  represent 
only  the  face  value  of  the  bonds  turned  over  to  Heron  by  Dud- 
ley j  and  not  the  amount  the  king  realized  on  them.  As  Heron's 
lists  show,  many  bonds  were  cancelled  by  the  king,  and  others 
were  suspended  during  pleasure  so  that  perhaps  only  three 
quarters  or  even  less  of  the  face  value  eventually  came  to 
the  king.15  In  his  entries  except  for  a  few  at  the  beginning  of 
the  book,  Dudley  gave  a  full  description  of  the  consider- 
ation for  which  the  obligation  was  made.  It  is  therefore  possible 
to  make  an  analysis  of  these  causes,  which  for  the  year  1504- 
1505  gives  the  following  result : 

Recognizances  and  obligations  for  the  hire  of  the 

Eoyal  ships  Sovereign  and  Eegent  and  for  customs 

of  goods  carried  in  them  £  6,600          Os.        Od. 

For  the  confirmation  of  the  liberties  of  London  and 

North  Wales  5,886        13s.        4d. 

For  the  restitution  of  bishop's  temporalities  4,260          Os.        Od. 

lor  faithful  performance  of  duties  by  the  king's 

officers  4,400          Os.        Od. 

(This  item  is  not  included  in  the  total  for  the  year 

by  Dudley) 

For  pardons  of  murder,  felony,  rape  and  false  ver- 
dicts 3,846  13s.  4d. 
For  special  livery  of  lands  2,024  15s.  3d. 
For  wards  sold  by  the  king  1,866  13s.  4d. 
For  fines  for  the  escape  of  prisoners  1,680  Oa  Od. 
For  the  proceeds  of  the  sale  of  goods  confiscated  in 

the  ports  for  contravention  of  customs  regulations  1,488  3s.  4d. 
For  lands  purchased  from  the  king  1,324  Os.  Od. 

16  The  loss  of  the  Eeceipt  books  of  the  Treasurer  of  the  Chamber  after 
1505  makes  it  impossible  to  compare  the  amounts  received  in  money  or 
bonds  by  the  king  with  the  face  value  of  the  bonds  made  during  the  years 
1505  to  1508.  In  1504-1505,  when  £42,645  in  bonds  were  made  £35,000 
in  money  was  received  on  bonds.  But  since  payments  of  bonds  taken  in 
any  one  year  were  extended  over  many  years,  no  relation  can  be  worked 
out  from  these  sums. 


40 


ENGLISH   GOVERNMENT   FINANCE 


[336 


For  re-payment  for  money  borrowed  from  the  king     1,000  Os. 

For  the  payment  of  customs  dues  on  wines. 

For  the  purchase   of  offices 

For  licenses  of  widows  to  wed 

For  licenses  to  amortize  lands 

For  fines  for  hunting  and  riots 

For  the  discharge  of  offices  found  to  the  king's  use 

in  lands 

For  alum  sold  by  the  king 
For  treasure  trove 


For  causes  not  stated 


928 
720 
586 
526 
393 

200 
200 
40 
11,315 


Os. 

Os. 
13s. 
13s. 

6s. 

Os. 
Os. 
Os. 
Os. 


Od. 
Od. 
Od. 
4d. 
4d. 
8d. 

'Od. 
Od. 
Od. 
Od. 


The  other  years  covered  by  Dudley's  account  book  show  a 
similar  variety  of  causes  for  which  obligations  were  made  and 
money  collected  by  him.16 

To  the  obligations  and  payments  for  the  hire  of  the  royal 
ships,  for  the  sale  of  alum  (which  was  very  great  during  the 
year  1505-1506),  for  licences  to  export  wheat  and  to  import 


i«  1505-6 

Calais 

Hire  of  royal  ships  £        13 

Sale  of  alum  15,086 

Licenses  to  import  and  export  wheat  and  wine  1,153 


Ecclesiastical  te*mporalities 

Licence  to  amortize  land 

Sale  of  wards 

Licences  of  widows  to  marry 

Special  livery  of  lands 

Eestitution  of  lands 

Discharge  of  the  king's  title  to  lands 

For   discharge    of   obligations 

Old  debts  and  arrears 

Sale  of  charters 

Bonds  for  good  'abearing' 

Bonds  for  good  behavior  in  office 

Fines  for  escape  of  prisoners 

Sale  of  offices 

Purchase  of  the  king's  favor 

Fines  and  pardons 

Pardons  of  offences  in  office 

Fines  and  pardons  of  intrusion 

Fines  for  mills  and  Cedells   on   rivers 

Forfeit  merchandise 

Loans 

Miscellaneous 


1,333 
300 
2,177 
1,273 
1,205 
6,025 


1506-7 

£3,944 

3,000 

987 
7,166 
2,266 
1,110 

1,584 
3,038 


1507-8 
£  200 

1,064 
5,566 
393 
2,686 
1,106 
1,535 


2,833 

150 

1,877 

668 

636 

4,370 

907 

1,374 

450 

2,240 

50 

2,100 

500 

4,000 

8,666 

1,143 

910 

1,020 

2,006 

2,856 

936 

2,926 

3,263 

2,453 

4,583 

5,756 

18,483 

1,986 

133 

640 

4,012 

7,600 

973 

16 

220 

25 

3,143 

5,500 

5,635 

2,122 

655 

337]  OBLIGATIONS    AND    RECOGNIZANCES  41 

wine  and  for  those  to  pay  the  customs  thereon  in  deferred 
payments,  not  the  slightest  objection  could  be  made.  Nor 
could  any  protest  be  raised  against  obligations  for  payment  for 
the  restitution  of  ecclesiastical  temporalities  and  for  licences 
for  free  election  of  abbots  and  priors,  for  licences  to  amortize 
lands,  for  the  sale  of  wards,  for  licences  to  widows  to  marry  and 
for  special  livery  of  lands.  The  king  was  certainly  within  his 
rights  when  he  insisted  upon  the  payment  of  old  debts  and 
arrears  of  subsidies  as  he  did  from  1505  onwards.  The  sale 
of  charters  and  liberties  to  cities  and  corporations  was  not  con- 
trary to  law,  and  bonds  for  good  behavior  in  office  are  recognized 
and  used  today.  That  the  ends  of  justice  be  served  it  was 
necessary  that  prisoners  be  safely  kept  and  the  danger  to  the 
state  of  their  escape  had  to  be  checked  by  heavily  fining  keepers 
of  jails  for  laxness  in  their  duties.  The  sale  of  offices, by  the 
king  does  not  come  up  to  the  standards  of  present  day  social 
morality  but  it  probably  did  not  shock  the  men  of  the  fifteenth 
century  overmuch. 

The  purchase  of  the  king's  favor,  for  which  obligations  are 
found  in  1505  and  later,  is  much  more  questionable.  In  some 
cases  it  was  quite  innocent;  as  when  the  Merchant  Adventurers 
paid  £200  for  the  king's  most  gracious  favor  to  them  to  be 
showed  concerning  their  going  into  the  parties  of  Flanders,17 
and  £50  at  another  time  to  have  their  free  liberty  in  choosing 
their  governor.18  In  other  cases  the  king's  favor  was  sought 
by  candidates  for  appointment  to  offices  where  the  king  could 
use  his  influence,  as  when  1000  marks  were  paid  for  the  king's 
favor  in  the  Deanery  of  York;  or  it  was  desired  that  the  king 
use  his  influence  in  other  ways,  as  when  Sir  Richard  Haddon 
paid  1000  marks  for  the  king's  favor  to  have  Wyndont's  daugh- 
ter wed  his  son.19  But  when  Lord  Stafford  paid  £400  for  the 
king 's  favor  in  the  matter  at  variance  between  him  and  the  Duke 
of  Buckingham,20  or  money  was  accepted  by  the  king  to  write 
letters  to  the  justices  of  the  peace,  apparently  instructing  them 
to  favor  one  side  in  a  suit,  or  when  £1,000  was  paid  for  the 

IT  Lansd.  Mss.,  127,  f.  44. 
is  Ibid.,  f.  49. 
is  Ibid.,  f.  17. 
20  Ibid.t  f .  49. 


42  ENGLISH   GOVERNMENT   FINANCE  [338 

king's  gracious  favor  to  have  the  course  of  his  laws  against  one 
Metcalf,21  the  matter  became  reprehensible. 

The  attention  of  the  chroniclers  and  of  Bacon  however  has 
been  turned  more  largely  to  fines  and  pardons  for  offences 
alleged  to  be  against  the  old  penal  laws,  than  to  the  obligations 
of  the  various  classes  just  noted.  Obligations  for  fines  and 
pardons  form  only  a  fraction  of  the  yearly  total  of  all  obligations 
made  by  Dudley  and  his  co-workers,  and  this  fraction  is  not 
large,  except  in  the  year  1507-1508  when  the  value  of  obligations 
for  fines  and  pardons  was  greatly  increased  by  two  obligations 
for  the  payment  of  £5,000  each  —  made  to  the  king's  use  by  the 
Earl  of  Northumberland  and  Lord  Burgevenny.22  Few  fines 
imposed  by  the  king's  courts  were  collected  by  Empson  and 
Dudley.  In  nearly  all  cases  they  went  directly  to  the  law- 
breakers and  compounded  with  them  for)  payment  for  the 
king's  pardon.  Such  payments  or  promises  of  payment  for 
the  king's  pardon  were  in  essence  fines  levied  by  an  irregular 
procedure.  Some  of  these  fines  or  payments  for  pardon  seem 
eminently  just,  as  when  Giles  Lord  Daubeney  paid  £2,000  for 
his  pardon  for  the  receipt  of  money  at  Calais  by  reason  of 
his  office  which  belonged  to  the  king's  grace,  in  other  words 
for  embezzlement.23  Others,  especially  pardons  for  murderers, 
which  were  frequent,  cannot  be  defended.  Even  here  there 
was  once  shown  a  curious  kind  of  practical  justice,  when  one 
Orrel  was  pardoned  "for  the  murthering  and  robbing  of  certeyn 
straungers  upon  the  see"  for  £100,  but  was  required  to  pay 
another  £100  "in  recompense  to  the  friends  of  the  same  straung- 
ers."2* 

There  is  no  evidence  of  a  general  resuscitation  of  the  old 
penal  laws,  as  Vergil  and  Hall  allege,  in  these  obligations  for 
fines  and  pardons.  Hunting  and  the  reversal  of  outlawry  are 
insignificant  factors  in  Dudley's  accounts.20  On  the  other  hand, 

21  Hid.,  f.  23. 

22  ibid.,  ff.  31,  54. 

23  Ibid.,  f .  34. 
2*  Ibid.,  f.  47. 

25  In  1508,  however,  fines  for  outlawry  became  important  enough  to  be 
placed  with  licenses  for  widows  to  marry  in  charge  of  Edward  Belknap, 
' '  surveyor  of  fines  for  outlawries  and  marriages  of  the  king 's  wards ' ' 
(that  is,  widows).  Such  fines  for  outlawries  were  apparently  assessed  by 


339]  OBLIGATIONS    AND    RECOGNIZANCES  43 

the  fines  for  maintenance  of  retainers,  for  ravishing  of  the 
king's  wards  and  for  intrusion  are  very  large;  as  were  the  pay- 
ments for  restitution  to  lands.  These  last  were  a  kind  of  back- 
handed fine  for  intrusions  paid  to  the  king  for  the  restoration 
of  lands  seized  for  that  reason  into  the  king's  hands.  Large 
fines  of  these  kinds,  from  a  comparatively  few  persons  make  up 
a  very  large  part  of  all  obligations  for  fines  and  pardons.  Thus 
Lord  Dacre  made  an  obligation  of  £200  for  intrusion  of  certain 
lands;  Lord  Fitzwater  agreed  to  pay  £6,000  for  his  restitution 
to  his  lands;  Sir  William  Say  bound  himself  in  2,500  marks 
to  be  freed  from  the  charge  of  intrusion  of  certain  lands  of 
the  inheritance  of  one  Hill;  for  the  discharge  of  the  king's 
title  to  certain  lands  recovered  by  him,  worth  £120  a  year  Lord 
Dudley  had  to  pay  £1,000;  the  Earl  of  Derby  agreed  to  a 
recognizance  of  £6,000  for  his  pardon;  Thomas  Kneysworth, 
Shore  and  Grove,  aldermen  of  London  compounded  for  their 
offences  in  office  by  a  fine  of  £933  6s.  8d. ;  the  Lady  Percivale 
gave  £1,000  for  her  pardon;  the  Earl  of  Northumberland  was 
pardoned  for  the  ravishing  of  Elizabeth  Hastings,  one  of  the 
king's  wards,  for  £10,000,  of  which  £5,000  was  to  be  paid  and 
the  balance  to  hang  at  the  king's  pleasure;  Lord  Conyeraagreed 
to  pay  £1,000  for  a  riot  committed^against  Lord  D 
Thomas  Tyrrel  paid  £1,728  for  restitution  to  his  lands;  Nicholas 
Vaux  and  Thomas  Parre  gave  obligations  for  9,000  marks  for 
the  marriages  of  the  two  daughters  and  heirs  of  Sir  Thomas 
Grene  and  for  the  discharge  of  their  lands  of  intrusions  and 
other  condemnations;  and  Lord  Burgevenny  who  confessed  to 
"forfaictors  of  his  retainers"  before  the  "lord  Chiff  Juge  and 
also  the  Chief  Justice  of  the  commyn  place"  to  the  amount 
of  £69,00026  made  a  fine  of  £5,000  to  the  king  for  his  offences 
and  gave  other  bonds  for  sure  payment  of  the  sum,  and  for  his 
good  behavior  in  the  future. 

From  these  instances  it  appears  that  many  noblemen  were 
very  badly  mulcted.  Henry  VII  had  in  this  the  ulterior  pur- 
pose of  drying  up  the  springs  of  political  opposition  by  reducing 

the  king  himself.  From  July  1,  1508,  to  March  10,  1509,  £2,910  15s.  5d. 
was  received  from  goods,  chattels  and  fines  of  outlawed  felons.  Aocts.  Exch. 
Q.  E.  517/14,  and  517/15,  Belknap's  account  books. 

26  Exch.,  Treasury  of  Eeceipt,  Misc.  Books,  214,  p.  534. 


44  ENGLISH    GOVERNMENT   FINANCE  [340 

the  great  nobles  if  not  to  poverty,  at  least  to  a  wholesome  fear. 
But  two  other  facts  stand  out  in  the  cases  cited.  Breaking 
the  peace,  keeping  retainers,  creating  disorder  by  the  ravishing 
of  women,  especially  those  who  were  the  king's  wards,  and 
other  breaches  of  the  law  were  severely  dealt  with ;  and  in  the 
second  place  intrusion  of  lands  was  especially  harshly 
punished.  After  the  disorders  of  the  wars  of  the  Eoses,  it 
was  of  primary  importance  that  the  turbulent  nobles  should 
be  kept  in  check  and  made  to  fear  the  law.  The  royal  courts 
were  too  slow-moving,  and  perhaps  too  weak  to  do  this.  Much 
earlier  in  the  reign,  after  the  rebellion  of  the  Cornishmen, 
Henry  VII  had  not  relied  upon  the  courts  to  assest  fines  upon 
the  rebels,  but  had  sent  Paulet  and  Sherborne  as  royal  com- 
missioners to  make  the  king's  power  felt  and  to  fine  all  who 
had  taken  part  in  the  revolt.  Just  as  they  had  asserted  the 
royal  authority  in  the  Southwest,  so  Empson  and  Dudley  vin- 
dicated it  against  the  nobles,  more  directly,  more  quickly  and 
more  quietly  than  any  court,  even  the  Star  Chamber  could 
have  done.  Moreover  the  fines  they  assessed  came  entirely 
to  the  royal  treasury  and  were  not  subject  to  deductions  as 
were  the  fines  assessed  by  judges  before  they  reached  the 
treasury.  Besides  the  establishment  of  respect  for  the  law,  the 
fines  for  intrusion  had  a  second  object,  to  force  heirs  to  properly 
sue  out  the  livery  of  their  lands,  the  importance  of  which  in  the 
light  of  the  Tudor  policy  to  base  the  revenue  system  on  landed 
estates  has  already  been  pointed  out. 

In  judging  Empson  and  Dudley's  work  and  activities,  it 
should  not  be  forgotten  that  fines  and  sales  of  pardon  occupied 
only  part  of  their  attention,  and  that  there  were  many  other 
important  classes  of  payments  made  to  them.  Moreover  the 
king  was  thoroughly  cognizant  of  all  their  activities,  as  is  shown 
by  his  daily  examination  of  Dudley's  book.  They  were  not  mere 
irresponsible  extortioners.  They  were  the  king's  business  and 
collection  agents,  who  went  up  and  down  the  country  taking 
care  that  no  money  due  to  the  crown  went  unpaid  and  no  royal 
right  violated.  They  were  the  king's  long  arms  with  which 
he  reached  out  from  one  end  of  England  to  the  other  and  took 
what  was  his.  When  the  accounts  of  the  Staple  at  Calais  were 
cast,  Dudley  was  present  and  probably  drew  up  the  recognizances 


341]  OBLIGATIONS    AND    RECOGNIZANCES  45 

by  which  the  Merchants  of  the  Staple  bound  themselves  to 
payment;27  when  the  recognizances  forfeited  in  the  king's  bench 
for  the  first  twenty  years  of  the  reign  were  examined,  Dudley 
took  charge  "to  make  out  process"  for  all  that  be  unpaid j^U* — 
^  "\5Then  it  was  reported  to  the  king  that  Sir  E.  had  taken  no  livery 
'o"f  his  lands,  Empson  searched  the  records;29  when  obligations 
in  Heron's  hands  were  not  promptly  paid  they  were  delivered 
to  Dudley  to  be  put  in  suit,30  and  when  the  king's  greatest  mer- 
cantile transaction  was  made,  the  sale  of  £15,166  13s.  4d.  worth 
of  alum  to  Lewis  de  la  Fava,  Dudley  was  Henry  VII 's  agent 
and  received  de  la  Fava's  bond.31 

Their  activity  against  the  great  nobles  did  not  make  Empson 
and  Dudley  popular,  and  their  unpopularity  was  greatly  increased 
by  the  chicanery  to  which  they  stooped  to  accomplish  their 
ends.  They  doubtless  spent  a  great  deal  of  time  in  searching 
the  records,  and  apart  from  the  fines  levied  for  intrusion  there 
is  some  evidence  to  indicate  that  when  a  defective  title  was 
found  (going  back  even  a  long  time)  process  to  dispossess  the 
present  holder  was  begun  for  the  king's  benefit,  and  their  own, 
since  they  received  grants  out  of  such  lands  recovered.82  In  the 
Plumpton  Correspondence  there  is  the  account  of  how  Empson 
tried  to  dispossess  Sir  Robert  Plumpton  of  his  lands  for  the 
benefit  of  the  heirs  general  of  Sir  William  Plumpton  his  father, 
to  one  of  whom  Empson  was  planning  to  marry  his  daughter. 
"Accompanied  by  Edward  Stanhopp,  Gervis  Clifton,  Robert 
Dimmoke  and  William  Perpoynt  knights  and  other  gentlemen  and 
yeomen  to  the  number  of  200  persons  and  more,  and  divers  of  the 
garde  of  our  Sovereigne  Lord  the  King  arrayed  in  the  most 
honorable  livery  of  his  said  garde  (he)  came  to  Yorke  to  main- 
taine  the  foresaid  Robert  and  Richard  (that  is  the  representa- 

27  Add.  Mss.,  21480,  f.  159. 

28  Accounts,  Exch.,  Queen's  'Remembrancer,  516/17. 

29  Add.  Mss.,  21480,  f .  191. 

30  Lansd.  Mss.,  127,  f .  35. 
si  Ibid.,  f.  29. 

82  Letters  and  Papers,  I,  1965,  3284.    Lands  recovered  by  Empson,  Dud-j 
ley.  Wiot,  Andrew  Windsore,  Sir  James  Hobart,  Thomas  Lucas,  William  ^ 
Mordaunt,    William    Gascoigne,    Eichard   Fox   Bishop    of   Winchester   and 
others,   some   of   which  were   granted   to   Empso^  and  Dudley   and   their 
co-workers. 


46  ENGLISH   GOVERNMENT   FINANCE  [342 

tives  of  the  heirs  general)  in  the  said  assise,  and  theare  abode 
with  the  said  companie  at  their  costs  and  charges  to  the  time 
that  the  said  assize  passed  against  the  f  oresaid  Sir  Robert. ' ' 33 
Judge  Vavosour  who  appeared  with  Empson  and  Dudley  more 
than  once  in  cases  of  dissesein,34  "then  shewed  in  open  courte 
a  fine  exemplified  under  the  greate  scale  of  England,  saing 
that  therin  wear  comprised  the  foresaid  manors  taled  to  the 
heires  generall  of  Sir  William  Plompton  and  the  Counsell  of 
the  foresaid  Sir  Robert  desired  hearing  thereof  and  might  not 
have  it  by  any  meanes. ' ' 35  Before  the  trial  Sir  Robert  was 
warned  "to  labor  as  well  the  Schereffes  as  all  your  frynds," 
since  Empson  would  avail  himself  of  the  favor  it  was  possible 
for  him  to  show  ag  one  of  the  king's  council  sitting  to  assess 
fines  upon  such  as  had  not  taken  up  knighthood,  and  would 
have  persons  thus  made  friendly  put  upon  the  jury.  "Thus  he 
under  myneth. ' ' 38  The  Plumpton  case  is  only  one  instance  in 
which  these  men  reaped  dislike  by  taking  care  of  themselves. 
A  second  such  case  came  to  notice  in  1527  when  John  Maryng 
petitioned  the  Lord  Chancellor  that  twenty-eight  years  ago  Ed- 
mund Dudley  craftily  attempted  to  disinherit  him  of  certain 
lands  by  inducing  a  man  named  Fowler  to  lend  him  £10  on 
mortgage  to  be  repaid  within  a  year.  Shortly  after  the  loan 
he  was  imprisoned  in  the  Tower;  and  Dudley  redeemed  the 
lands  although  he  had  the  redemption  money  ready  himself. 
Dudley  obtained  the  deeds  during  his  imprisonment  and  forged 
a  conveyance  in  his  name.37  The  sale  of  justice  outright,  cases 
of  which  have  been  quoted  in  connection  with  the  sale  of  the 
king's  favor,  as  in  the  case  where  £1,000  was  paid  "for  the 
king's  favor  toward  John  Layton,  to  have  the  course  of  the 
king's  common  law  in  assise  against  one  Metcalf"  probably 
served  to  increase  still  more  popular  displeasure.  Dudley  him- 
self repented  of  this,  and  in  the  Tree  of  Commonwealth,  a  little 
book  written  by  him  in  the  Tower  before  his  execution,  he  advised 
Henry  VIII  to  give  judges  "a  great  charge  to  minister  justice 

zs  Plumpton  Correspondence,  p.  CVII. 
s*  Letters  and  Papers,  I,  1965. 
so  Plumpton  Correspondence,  p.  CVII. 
36/Z>ttZ.,  151,  letter  cxlx. 

37  Letters  and  Papers,  IV,  3727.     If  this  incident  took  place  28  years 
before  1527,  that  is  in  1499,  Dudley  was  not  then  in  the  king's  service. 


343]  OBLIGATIONS    AND    RECOGNIZANCES  47 

truly  and  indifferently  under  pain  of  his  high  and  great  dis- 
pleasure," and  to  take  care  that  "they  let  not  for  fears  nor 
displeasure  of  any  of  his  own  servants  or  counsellors  to  do  true 
Justice  nor  for  fear  of  any  great  person  in  the  realm."38  Fin- 
ally Dudley  was  not  even  above  forging  obligations,  as  is  shown 
by  annotations  made  by  Brian  Tuke,  Treasurer  of  the  Chamber 
on  the  margins  of  certain  old  obligations  in  1530,  "Not  subscribed 
and  the  scale  of  Mr.  S.  saithe  it  wasfon^of  them  that  was  coun- 
terfaict  by  Dudley,"  and  "discharged  by  matter  of  recorde 
in  the  common  place  as  counterf  aict  By  Dudley-* ' 39  At  times 
Henry  VII  seems  to  have  been  troubled  by  some  of  his  methods 
of  getting  money.  On  August  19,  1504,  which  was  before  Dudley 
came  to  his  service,  a  proclamation  was  issued  that  all  who  had 
claims  against  the  king  for  any  loan  or  prest,  or  injury  done  to 
them  might  deliver  their  complaints  during  the  term  before 
Michaelmas  two  years  hence  to  certain  commissioners.40  In  his 
will  Henry  VII  made  provision  for  a  similar  proclamation.41 
But  that  he  did  not  intend  to  have  such  money  as  was  collected 
by  Empson  and  Dudley  very  much  questioned  and  disputed, 
seems  clear  from  the  appointment  of  Empson  and  Dudley  as 
executors  of  the  will,  and  as  commissioners  to  examine  any  com- 
plaints.42 

Practically  all  that  is  known  of  the  next  events  comes  from 
Vergil  again.  "When  the  proclamation  was  read,  all  who  had 
been  in  any  way  mulcted,  rightly  or  wrongly  (jure  vel  injuria) 
rushed  to  court  and  set  forth  each  for  himself  the  injury  done 
him,  asserting  with  wails  of  complaint,  that  his  own  case  merited 
restitution.  The  Council  heard  the  cases  and  ordered  restitu- 
tion, where  manifest  wrong  had  been  done.  When  this  was 
known,  great  Cassar!  the  way  the  others,  even  those  who  had 
been  justly  punished  stormed  about  and  pressed  their  claims! 
To  recover  their  losses  they  added  all  sorts  of  flourishes  to  their 

ss  Edmund  Dudley,  Tree  of  Commonwealth,  11-12. 

/  89  Letters  and  Papers,  IV,  6798.  The  original  document  is  in  the  Eecord 
Office,  State  Papers,  Henry  III,  IV,  $59,  pp.  22-27,  and  the  annotations 
there,  which  do  not  appear  in  the  calendars  were  called  to  my  attention 
by  Professor  E.  F.  Gay. 

«oGairdner,  Letters  and  Papers,  Eichard  III  and  Henry  VII,  II,  379. 

*i  Thomas  Astle,  Will  of  Henry  VII,  11-12. 

« Ibid.,  11-12. 


48  ENGLISH   GOVERNMENT   FINANCE  [344 

stories.  They  distributed  money  freely  (largitiones  faciunt), 
used  the  influence  of  their  friends  and  finally  stopped  at  nothing. 
Their  excessive  zeal  and  greed  worked  destruction  to  Empson 
and  Dudley  and  loss  to  themselves.  The  Council  giving  up  the 
hope  of  being  able  to  moderate  the  popular  outcry  and  satisfy 
the  demands  of  those  who  sought  restitution,  decided  to  hear 
no  more1  cases  but  to  arrest  Empson  and  Dudley  with  their  in- 
formers and  agents  to  placate  the  excitement  and  desire  of  the 
people,  who  called  for  their  punishment  more  than  anything 
else."43 

Some  clue  is  given  to  the  nature  of  "the  people"  (plebs 
populus)  by  the  sentence,  "they  distributed  money  freely  and 
used  the  influence  of  the  friends."  "The  people"  were  those 
classes  against  whom  Empson  and  Dudley  had  been  most  active 
in  asserting  the  rights  of  the  king.  Lord  Dacre  was  probably 
typical  of  those  who  cried  out  against  Empson  and  Dudley. 
In  a  letter  to  the  council  he  prayed  for  the  discharge  of  various 
obligations  and  recognizances,  some  of  them  surety  bonds  which 
he  alleged  had  been  retained  although  the  purpose  for  which 
they  had  been  made  had  ceased  to  exist,  or  had  been  turned  into 
debts  by  Empson  and  Dudley  "against  all  right."  Another  was 
a  bond  for  1,000  marks  in  which  he  was  bound  with  George 
Lord  Fitzhugh  for  his  mother,  Dame  Mabel  Dacre  accused  of 
having  ravished  Richard  Huddlestone,  one  of  the  king's  wards. 
He  had  paid  600  marks  of  the  bond  and,  requested  to  be  dis- 
charged of  the  remainder  since  Huddlestone  was  never  a  king's 
ward.44  It  was  with  men  of  Dacre 's  class  that  the  execution 
of  Empson  and  Dudley,  which  was  ordered  not  on  the  charge  of 
extortion  for  which  there  could  have  been  no  real  evidence 
which  did  not  compromise  the  late  king  and  his  whole  policy, 
but  on  a  trumped-up  charge  of  constructive  treason  was  best 
liked. 

By  his  repudiation  of  Empson  and  Dudley,  Henry  VIII  at 
once  won  a  reputation  for  liberality.  The  Venetian  Ambassador 
in  England  reported  the  new  king's  great  liberality,45  and 
William  Lord  Mountjoy  wrote  to  Erasmus  just  after  the  ar- 

«  p.  Vergil,  Historia  Anglica,  p.  2  of  the  second  part. 

44  Letters  and  Papers,  I,  380. 

45  Venetian  Calendar,  I,  942,  945. 


345]  OBLIGATIONS   AND   RECOGNIZANCES  49 

rest  of  Empson  and  Dudley,  "All  England  is  in  ecstacies.  Ex- 
tortion is  put  down  —  liberality  is  the  order  of  the  day. ' '  46 
The  stern  justice  of  Henry  VII  'a  day  was  no  longer  needed  to 
insure  respect  for  the  laws;  and,  like  the  true  Machiavellian 
that  he  and  all  the  Tudors  were,  Henry  VIII  broke  the  tools 
by  whom  in  large  part  the  supremacy  of  the  law  had  been 
established.  Some  of  the  land  won  by  Empson  and  Dudley 
for  the  crown  was  returned,  notably  to  Lord  Darcy  and  his 
wife  ;47  some  of  the  unpaid  portions  of  large  fines  for  intrusion 
were  remitted ;  for  example  to  Vaux  and  Parre  for  the  intrusions 
of  their  wives;48  the  Earl  of  Northumberland's  fine  of  £10,000 
for  ravishing  Elizabeth  Hastings  was  pardoned,49  and  nine  of 
the  smaller  recognizances  were  cancelled  since,  because  of  their 
manifold  injustice  they  "may  not  be  levied  without  the  evident 
peril  of  our  said  late  father's  soul  which  we  (Henry  VIII) 
would  for  no  earthly  riches  see  nor  suffer."50  Many  other 
bonds  were  put  in  respite,  but  not  discharged,51  while  others 
perhaps  the  greater  part  were  levied  and  put  in  suit  if  not 
paid  promptly.52  They  probably  represented  debts  justly  owing 
to  the  crown,  for  after  all  the  great  bulk  of  Empson  and  Dud- 
ley's work,  and  certainly  the  great  bulk  of  all  obligations  made 
to  the  king's  use  in  Henry  VII 's  reign  were  for  just  and 
legitimate  causes. 

Order  had  been  reestablished  and  the   crown  lands  vastly 
extended.    The  terrorism  of  great  fines  was  no  longer  necessary 
and  was  repudiated.    But  the  practice  of  collecting  the  king's 
debts  and  dues  in  installments  by  means  of  obligations  continued, 
and  the  Treasurer  of  the  Chamber  long  kept  lists  of  obliga- 
te Letters  and  Papers,  I,  5736. 
47  Ibid.,  I,  367,  721. 
«8  Ibid.,  I,  600,  612,  1026. 
U^^fbid.,  I,  945,  961. 

50/buf.,  I,  1004,  1372.  See  also  ibid.,  I,  5522.  Other  recognizances 
were  cancelled  in  the  course  of  the  first  four  years  of  the  reign  to  which 
this  note  was  not  attached.  These  were  in  some  cases  expired  surety  bonds, 
and  in  other  cases,  apparently  just  debts;  in  other  cases  it  is  impossible  to 
tell  their  nature. 

51  Ibid.,   I,    777,   Book   of    such   obligations   as   were   respited   but  not 
discharged. 

52  Ibid.,  I,  3497.     Echoes  of  bonds  put  in  suit  reached  as  far  down  as 
1530,  —  see  ibid.,  IV,  6798. 


50  ENGLISH   GOVERNMENT   FINANCE  [346 

tions  and  recognizances  in  the  back  of  his  account  books,  just 
as  he  had  done  in  Henry  VII 's  time  —  for  the  repayment  of 
loans  made  by  the  king,  the  sale  of  wards,  the  livery  of  lands 
and  deferred  payment  of  customs.53 

In  Mary's  reign,  after  long  disuse  in  the  later  years  of  Henry 
VIII 's  reign,  obligations  and  recognizances  reappear  as  the 
"stalled  debts"  which  figure  largely  in  government  finance 
through  the  second  half  of  the  sixteenth  century. 


53  Ibid.,  II,  pp.  1481-1490;  III.  pp.  1545-1546. 


CHAPTER  V 

TAXES,  LOANS  AND  BENEVOLENCES,  THE  FRENCH  PENSION 

The  new  financial  system  for  which  the  foundations  were 
laid  in  1485,  and  the  work  of  Empson  and  Dudley  did  much  to 
build  up,  took  some  years  before  it  yielded  an  adequate  revenue. 
Until  it  did,  Henry  VII  was  not  able  to  abandon  older  devices 
to  eke  out  his  resources.  At  the  beginning  of  the  reign,  the 
Marquis  of  Dorset  and  Sir  John  Bourchier  were  in  Paris  as 
pledges  for  money  borrowed,1  and  t<5  the  Duke  of  Brittany  Henry 
owed  sums  exceeding  10,000  crowns  of  gold  on  promises  "as  a 
prince  to  repay  .  .  as  soon  as  he  had  obtained  the  kingdom. '  '2 
The  coronation  was  planned  on  a  scale  that  would  show  an  "es- 
tate royal ' '  and  befit  a  king.  The  royal  jewels  had  been  pledged 
by  Richard  III,  and  had  to  be  redeemed,3  and  some  of  Richard 
Ill's  debts  were  ordered  paid.  The  king  was  obliged  to  resort 
to  short  time  loans,  as  Edward  IV  and  Richard  III  had  often 
found  it  necessary  to  do.  The  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  for 
example  lent  the  king  £100  ;4  the  Bishop  of  Winchester  100 
marks,  and  Italian  merchants  in  London,  sums  ranging  from 
£100  to  500  marks.6  The  merchants  of  the  Staple  at  Calais  ad- 
vanced above  £1,000  for  wages  and  fees  of  the  Calais  garrison,7 
while  the  mayor  and  aldermen  of  the  city  of  London  lent 
£2,000,8  in  addition  to  the  gift  of  1,000  marks  voted  by  the 

1  Bacon,  Henry  VII,  18. 

2  J.  Gairdner,  Life  of  Henry  VII,  19. 

&Exch.  of  Eeceipt,  Eeceipt  Eolls,  no.  949;  entry  of  receipt  of  loan  on 
pledge  of  jewels  by  Bichard  III. 

Hist.  Mss.  Commission,  Mss.  of  Lord  Edmond  Talbot,  296. 

*  Exch.  of  Eeceipt,  Eeceipt  Eolls,  no.  955. 

e  Ibid. 

e  Ibid. 

i  Campbell,  Materials,  I,  233,  266,  273. 

*Exch.  of  Eeceipt,  Eeceipt  Eolls,  no.  955;  Kingsford's  Chronicles,  193. 

51 


52  ENGLISH   GOVERNMENT   FINANCE  [348 

common  council  of  the  city  before  Henry's  entry.9  Reginald 
Bray,  Allen  Cornburgh  Clerk  of  the  treasurer,  Lord  Dynham 
the  lord  treasurer,  the  cofferer  of  the  household  and  other  finan- 
cial officials  lent  large  sums.  All  these  loans,  amounting  to 
£10,121  17s.  4d.  during  the  first  year  of  the  reign,  were  for  short 
periods,  a  few  weeks  in  some  cases,  and  all  were  repaid.10 

In  1486  and  1487  the  king  had  to  meet  the  expense  of  his 
marriage  to  Elizabeth  of  York,  his  progress  to  the  north,  and 
the  suppression  of  the  insurrection  of  Lambert  Simnel  and  of 
the  disorders  in  Ireland.  Toward  the  end  of  1486,  commissioners, 
with  letters  under  the  king's  signet  were  sent  into  various  parts 
of  England  to  raise  money  for  the  king  by  "agreements." 
Though  the  amount  raised  was  small,  this  loan  is  important  as 
being  the  first  of  the  forced  loans  which  figure  so  prominently 
in  the  Tudor  period.11  In,iheearly  part  of  1489  commissioners 
'  again  visited  the  various  sb^jj^es  to  collect  loans.12  Much  greater 
in  amount  than  the  loans  from  the  people  during  these  years, 
were  the  advances  made  to  the  king  by  Reginald  Bray,  Lord 
Dynham,  the  great  ecclesiastics,  and  the  city  of  London.13  The 
city  of  London  lent  the  king  £4,000  in  1487,1*  £2,000  in  July 
1488,15  £4,700  in  February  and  March  1489,16  £1,000  in  August 
1489,17  and  £2,000  in  1490.18 

» Campbell,  Materials,  I,  6,  Journ.  Civit.  London,  IX,  84,  August  31, 
1485. 

wExch.  of  Receipt,  Receipt  Bolls,  nos.  955,  958,  Michaelmas  1485  to 
Michaelmas  1486.  All  the  loans  are  noted  with  the  date  of  their  re- 
payment. 

11  The  amount  borrowed  from  individuals  was  small,  the  average  being 
20  shillings;  though  in  London,  it  was  about  £5.     The  costs  of  collection 
were  very  large,  being  £29  5s.  lOd.  to  collect  £264  in  Bedfordshire  and 
Buckinghamshire  and  £18  6s.  8d.  to  colleelt  £203  in  Lincolnshire.     Of  the 
money  raised  from   this  loan  £3,250  were  paid  to  the   Treasurer  of  the 
Chamber    and   £2,031    at   the    Receipt   of    the   Exchequer.     See    Campbell, 
Materials,  II;  91,  92,  95,  96,  97,  105,  106;  Accounts,  Exch.,  Queen's  Re- 
membrancer, 413/2  I,  Eeceipt  book  of  the  Treasurer  of  the  Chamber;  Exch., 
Treasury  Receipt,  Misc.  Books,  125,  payments  at  the  Exchequer. 

12  Exch.  of  Receipt,  Receipt  Rolls,  no.  964. 

13  Ibid.;  Exch.,  Queen's  Remembrancer,  413/2,  I. 
i*Kingsford's  Chronicles,  194. 

is  Ibid.,  Fabyan,  Chronicle,  683. 

16  Exch.  of  Receipt,  Receipt  Rolls,  no.  964. 

17  Exch.  of  Receipt,  Receipt  Rolls,  no.  966. 

.,  Treasury  of  Receipt,  Misc.  Books,  124,  p.  19. 


349]       TAXES,   LOANS,   BENEVOLENCES,   THE   FRENCH   PENSON  53 

More  important  in  the  early  years  of  the  reign,  is  the  ingen- 
ious use  of  foreign  complications  by  the  king  for  his  own  pecun- 
iary advantage.  As  Bacon  phrases  it,  Henry  VII  used  wars 
and  rumors  of  wars  to  exact  grants  from  Parliament  for  the 
defense  of  the  realm,  while  peace,  succeeding,  "coffered  up" 
the  sums  so  received.19  Henry  VII 's  success  in  this  respect  was 
so  well  known  in  his  own  day  that  Sanuto  commented  in  one  place 
in  his  diaries,  "under  the  pretence  of  this  war  (against  Scot- 
land) he  amassed  much  money."20  The  Milanese  Ambassador 
in  England,  Raimondo  de  Soncino,  speaking  of  a  rumor  of  war 
between  England  and  Flanders  in  1498  is  sure  that  nothing 
will  come  of  it,  except  that  under  the  "name  of  war,  possibly 
by  way  of  fifteenths  a  certain  sum  of  money  may  find  its  way 
to  the  king's  purse;  but  the  sovereigns  are  certain  to  come  to 
terms  and  the  losers  (the  taxed  subjects)  will  have  to  bear  their 
loss. ' ' 21  Perkin  Warbeck  made  it  one  of  the  charges  against 
Henry  VII,  in  his  proclamation  of  1495,  that  the  king  "hath 
trodden  under  foot  the  honor  of  this  nation,  selling  our  best 
confederates  for  money,  and  making  merchandise  of  the  blood, 
estates  and  fortunes  of  our  peers  and  subjects,  by  feigned  wars 
and  dishonorable  peaces,  only  to  enrich  his  coffers."22  Taxes 
were  legitimate  and  justifiable  war  measures,  and  it  was  as  war 
measures  that  Henry  VII  obtained  them.  Careful  of  the  sus- 
ceptibilities of  his  tax-voting  and  tax-paying  subjects,  Henry 
stimulated  his  people's  patriotism  against  France  and  Scotland 
before  asking  for  grants.  The  Parliamentary  votes  were  then 
made  almost  automatically.  Little  did  his  subjects  know  how 
disingenuous  were  the  purposes  of  the  king  until  after  the  event. 
Besides  taxes  wars  were  made  to  yieJd  further  profits  to  the 
king  in  the  way  of  a  benevolence  and  of  indemnities  of  no  mean 
value. 

The  first  parliamentary  tax  was  voted  in  November,  1487, 
after  the  battle  of  Stoke,  in  which  Lambert  Simnel  had  been 

is  Baeon,  Henry  VII,  51. 

20  Venetian  Calendar,  I,  743. 

21  Ibid.,  I,  776. 

22  Baeon,    Henry    VII,    141-142.        Bacon    asserts    that    he    had    seen 
a  copy  of  the  proclamation.     The  extract  quoted  does  not  however  appear 
in  the  transcript  of  the   proclamation  preserved  in  the   British  Museum, 
Harl.  Mss.,  283,  f .  123  b. 


54  ENGLISH   GOVERNMENT   FINANCE  [350 

defeated.  Two  whole  fifteenths  and  tenths,  and  a  poll  tax  on 
aliens,  such  as  had  been  used  by  Henry  VI,  were  granted  "for 
the  hasty  and  necessary  defence  of  this  your  realm. " 23  In 
December  1486  and  February  1487  the  convocations  of  the 
clergy  of  Canterbury  and  York  had  met  at  the  king's  summons, 
and  each  voted  one  entire  tenth  of  the  value  of  their  benefices.24 
The  very  success  with  which  the  king  obtained  these  taxes, 
and  the  improvement  in  the  financial  situation  which  appears 
very  noticeably  after  they  were  collected,  may  have  made  him 
the  more  willing  to  obtain  new  levies  when  he  was  enabled  to 
do  so  easily  by  reason  of  the  situation  in  Brittany.  When  the 
question  of  the  annexation  of  Brittany  to  France  became  acute, 
early  in  his  reign,  Henry  VjLoffered  his  mediation.  He  did 
not  desire  to  see  Brittany  annexed  to  France  any  more  than 
did  other  Englishmen.  Mediation  was  a  politic  way  of  main- 
tain his  truce  towards  both  sides,  France  and  Brittany,  to  each 
of  which  he  was  under  obligations;  and  at  the  same  time,  it 
kept  his  hand  in  the  game  of  European  politics,  while  it  might 
put  off  the  absorption  of  the  Duchy  of  France.25  But  the  cause 
of  Brittany  was  very  popular  with  Henry's  subjects;  they  de- 
manded intervention,  rather  than  mediation;  and  the  Commons 
even  desired  that  he  should  command  the  troops  in  person.28 
Ambassadors  were  sent  to  Spain  to  seek  an  alliance  there,  though 
not  exclusively  on  account  of  the  Breton  question ;  and  commis- 
sioners were  dispatched  to  Brittany  and  to  Maximilian,  Henry's 
natural  ally.  When  Parliament  assembled  on  January  13,  1489, 
its  chief  business  was  to  make  provision  for  the  war;  especially 
to  provide  funds  for  its  prosecution.  A  grant  of  £100,000  was 
asked  for.  It  was  a  very  large  amount  of  money,  more  than 
three  fifteenths  and  tenths.  All  agreed  to  vote  the  sum,  even 
extending  it  for  two  years  additional,  if  the  army  were  main- 
tained that  long.27  There  was  a  long  dispute  between  the  laity 
and  the  clergy  about  the  proportion  to  be  assessed  on  each ;  each 
wishing  to  escape  as  much  as  possible  of  the  heavy  burden  of 

23  Bot.  Parl,  VI,  401. 

24Wilkins,  Concilia,  III,  618,  621. 

25  Ant.  Depuy,  Historic  de  la  Reunion  de  La  Bretagne  a  la  France,  II, 
165-166. 

26  Hid.,  II,  163,  164. 

27  Bot.  Parl.,  VI,  42  Iff. 


351]       TAXES,   LOANS,   BENEVOLENCES,   THE   FRENCH   PENSON  55 

the  war  for  which  they  were  clamoring.28  It  was  finally  agreed 
that  the  laity  should  pay  three-fourths  of  the  grant,  and  the 
clergy  one-fourth.  On  February  8,  1489  the  treaty  of  Redon 
was  signed.  By  its  terms  a  defensive  league  was  made  by  Henry 
VII  with  the  Duchess  of  Brittany,  and  in  return  for  numerous 
concessions  that  the  Duchess  would  not  marry  without  Henry's 
consent,  and  that  she  would  aid  him  if  he  should  ever  seek  to 
recover  his  lost  French  possessions,  Henry  agreed  to  send  her 
6,000  men  to  serve  until  All  Soul's  Day  next,  at  her  own  expense. 
As  security  for  the  payment  of  the  cost  of  these  troops,  two 
strong  places  in  Brittany  were  to  be  handed  over  to  Henry  VII, 
to  be  held  and  garrisoned  by  him.29  A  treaty  with  Maximilian 
was  signed  February  14,30  and  with  Spain,  March  27,  1489.31 
When  the  treaty  of  Redon,  and  the  meanness  of  the  operations 
of  the  English  forces  which  aided  Maximilian  in  Flanders  are 
compared  with  the  parliamentary  grant,  the  conclusion  is  sug- 
gested that  Henry  VII  had  no  heart  for  the  war  and  was  already 
chiefly  thinking  of  his  own  enrichment. 

Maximilian  deserted  Henry  at  the  peace  of  Frankfort,  July 
22,  1489.  After  this  the  war,  hitherto  actuated  by  more  than 
financial  motives,  became  a  purely  business  proposition.  "Weigh- 
ing one  thing  with  another,  he  (Henry  VII)  gave  Britain  up  for 
lost ;  but  resolved  to  make  his  profit  out  of  this  business  of  Brit- 
ain."32 To  the  French  ambassadors  who  came  to  London  in 
August,  1489,  to  urge  the  English  king  to  accept  the  peace  of 
Frankfort,  Morton  insisted  upon  the  renewal  of  the  tribute  once 
paid  by  Louis  XI  to  Edward  IV  in  recognition  of  the  king's 
title  to  France  as  a  sine  qua  n&n.33  When  no  agreement  could 
be  reached,  Parliament,  assembled  in  October  1489,  voted  sup- 
plies for  the  continuance  of  the  war.  The  tax  of  £100,000  had 
been  an  innovation.  It  was  now  admitted  to  be  a  failure,  for 
only  £27,000  had  been  collected  of  the  £75,000  to  be  paid  by  the 
laity.  For  the  remission  of  the  remaining  £48,000  a  grant  of  one 

28  Venetian  Calendar,  I,  550.    Papal  Collector  de  Gilis  to  Innocent  VIII. 

29  Bymer,  Foedera,  O.  XII,  362. 
so  Ibid.,  XII,  359,  361. 

31  Spanish  Calendar,  I,  34. 

32  Bacon,  Henry  VII,  84. 
ss  Ibid.,  36. 


56  ENGLISH   GOVERNMENT   FINANCE  [352 

fifteenth  and  tenth  was  made  by  Parliament.34  The  clergy 
of  Canterbury  and  of  York  each  granted  one  tenth.35  Henry 
VII  however,  was  sure  of  his  hand,  knowing  the  eagerness  of 
Charles  VIII  of  France  to  be  free  to  undertake  his  Italian 
expedition,  which  had  been  revealed  to  Henry  by  the  French 
embassy  of  1489.  Henry  therefore  continued  to  aid  Anne 
of  Brittany,  taking  good  care  to  secure  her  bonds  and  promises 
for  repayment.36  When  Charles  VIII  by  capturing  and  mar- 
rying the  Duchess  made  it  impossible  for  Henry  to  put  pressure 
on  him  from  that  quarter  to  renew  the  tribute,  Henry  VII 
determined  to  invade  France  in  person,  and  recover  his  king- 
dom of  France. 

In  this  patriotic  cause,  Henry  could  ask  for  benevolence  with- 
out much  fear  of  opposition  despite  the  unpopularity  of  the 
benevolence  under  Edward  IV,  and  the  condemnation  of  the 
practice  by  Eichard  Ill's  first  Parliament.  In  July  1491,  com- 
missions were  issued  "for  obtaining  contributions  for  a  war 
against  France,"  setting  forth  ''that  Charles  of  France  not  only 
unjustly  occupies  the  king 's  kingdom  of  France,  but  threatens  the 
destruction  of  England.  "37  In  December  other  commissioners  were 
sent  to  Yorkshire.38  When  Parliament  assembled  the  king  told 
his  just  cause  for  waging  war.  "The  cause  of  this  battle  did 
every  man  allow,  and  to  setting  forth  the  same  promised  all 
they  could  make. " 39  A  liberal  grant  of  two  fifteenths  and 
tenths  was  made,  with  the  promise  of  a  third  if  the  army  re- 
mained abroad  more  than  eight  months.40 

The  invasion  of  France  by  an  English  army  in  1492  was  a 
gorgeous  military  show.  It  soon  accomplished  its  purpose. 
Charles  VIII  sent  early  proposals  of  peace ;  he  would  pay  certain 
arrears  of  the  pension  due  by  Louis  XI  to  Edward  IV,  and 
assume  the  debts  of  Anne  of  Brittany.  By  the  treaty  of  Etaples 
he  acknowledged  that  he  owed  for  the  costs  of  the  war,  the 

34JSot.  Part.,  VI,  438. 
sswilkins,  Concilia,  III,  625,  630. 
se  ~Rymer,Foedera,  O.  XII,  435,  436,  438,  442,  443. 

37  Ibid.,    XII,    446;    Gairdner,   Letters    and   Papers,    Eichard   III    and- 
Henry  VII,  II,  372f)  The  commissions  are  dated  July  7,  1491. 
ss  Bymer,  Foedera  O.  XII,  464. 
39  Hall,  Chronicle  (Ed.  of  1809),  451. 
«  Statutes  of  the  Eealm,  7  Henry  VII,  c.  11. 


353]       TAXES,   LOANS,    BENEVOLENCES,    THE   FRENCH   PENSON  57 

debts  of  Anne,  the  expenses  of  ambassadors,  620,000  Ecus  d  'or ; 
and  for  the  obligations  of  Louis  XI  to  Edward  IV  125,000  Ecus 
d'or,  or  745,000  Ecus  d'or  in  all.41  This  sum  was  to  be  paid 
at  the  rate  of  50,000  francs  yearly,  in  semi-annual  installments 
due  May  1,  and  November  I.42  This  " pension"  was  regularly 
paid  by  Charles  VIII,  and  on  his  death,  Louis  XI  renewed  the 
obligation.43 

The  peace  was  not  popular  in  England.  "Men  stuck  not  to 
say  'That  the  king  cared  not  to  plume  his  nobility  and  people 
to  feather  himself. '  And  some  made  themselves  merry  with  what 
the  king  had  said  in  Parliament,  '  That  after  the  war  was  once  be- 
gun, he  doubted  not  but  to  make  it  pay  itself, '  saying  he  had  kept 
promise. ' ' 44  And  he  had,  even  though  his  profits  were  not  so 
large  as  Bacon  believed  them.  On  the  one  hand  he  had  received 
generous  grants  from  Parliament  and  from  the  clergy,  collected 
a  benevolence  of  £48,484,45  and  received  the  assurance  of  a  pen- 
sion of  50,000  francs  a  year  for  a  long  term  of  years.  On  the 
other  hand,  in  the  preliminary  contest  in  Brittany  something 
was  spent,  and  the  invasion  of  France  in  1492  cost  £48,802.46 
The  difference  was  the  king's  profit. 

41  £159,000  sterling. 

42  Bymer,  Foedera,  O.  XII,  506,  The  treaty  of  Etaples. 

43  Ibid.,  684. 

4*  Bacon,  Henry  VII,  103. 

*sCott.  Mss.,  Cleopatra  F.  VI,  f.  314  — "King  Henry  VII  in  the  16th 
year  had  Benevolences  of  the  clergy,  nobility  and  commons  towards  his 
wars  in  France  amounting  to  the  sum  of  48,484  pounds,  besides  the  fifteenths 
and  tenths  at  the  same  time.  The  book  of  this  appeareth  in  the  treasury 
1  as  Westminister  with  the  chamberlains. ' '  There  was  however  no  benevo- 
'  Icnce  in  the  16th  year,  and  no  fifteenths  and  tenths,  but  both  were  taken 
for  the  French  war  in  1491-1492,  in  the  sixth  year  of  his  reign.  The  book 
referred  to  is  perhaps,  Exch.  of  Receipt,  Misc.  Books,  I,  which  records 
receipts  from  the  benevolence.  Some  pages  are  missing;  the  total  of  that 
part  of  the  book  which  is  preserved  is  £41,930  18s.  Id.,  paid  in  money. 
Another  record  (Accounts,  Exch.,  Queen's  Remembrancer,  516/23)  shows 
the  receipt  by  the  collectors  of  £6,396  9d.  worth  of  plate.  The  two  sums 
added  approach  closely  the  figure  given  in  the  quotation  above. 

*8  The  account  of  the  expenditures  in  Brittany  is  preserved  in  the 
Chapter  House  at  Westminster,  but  the  genial  keeper,  Dr.  Brown,  refuses 
to  allow  access  to  it,  or  to  other  documents  such  as  letters  of  Empson 
and  Dudley,  preserved  there.  The  account  for  the  expenditures  for  the 
invasion  of  France  is  in  Accounts,  Exch.,  Queen's  Remembrancer,  516/23. 


58  ENGLISH   GOVERNMENT   FINANCE  [354 

More  successful  financially  was  the  Scotch  war  of  1496  and 
1497.  Upon  the  news  of  a  raid  by  James  IV  across  the  English 
borders  in  1496,  Parliament  granted  two  fifteenths  and  tenths, 
with  the  usual  exceptions  and  deductions,  and,  in  addition  "an 
aid  and  subsidy  of  as  great  and  large  sums  of  money  as  the  said 
two  fifteenths  and  tenths"  with  the  abatement  and  reduction  of 
£12,000,  but  no  other  reductions.  This  meant  that  the  exempted 
towns  were  to  pay  the  tax,  paying  as  much  toward  the  subsidy, 
as  their  fifteenths  and  tenths  would  amount  to.4T  At  the  same 
time,  the  clergy  of  Canterbury  made  a  grant  of  £40,000,  despite 
the  grant  of  a  tenth  in  the  year  before.48  Taking  the  fifteenth 
and  tenth  at  £29,000  the  entire  clerical  and  lay  grant  at  this  time 
was  nearly  £160,000.  The  book  of  payments  of  the  Treasurer 
of  the  Chamber  shows  the  dispatch  of  money  for  soldiers  wages, 
a  total  of  £41,300.49  The  "rigging  forth"  of  the  navy  took 
£4,408,50  and  the  revolt  of  the  Cornishmen,  who  objected  to  being 
taxed  for  the  defence  of  the  Scotch  frontier,  and  the  defeat  of 
Perkin  Warbeck  cost  £13,155  more.51 

It  might  be  noted  in  passing  that  after  the  suppression  of 
the  Cornish  rising,  Henry  VII  characteristically  turned  it  to  his 
own  pecuniary  advantage  by  sending  Amis  Paulet  and  Robert 
Sherborne,  the  Dean  of  St.  Paul's  and  other  commissioners  "to 
plague  and  scourge  them  according  to  the  quality  of  their  crime 
and  offence  with  great  fines  and  assessments. ' ' 52  The  commis- 
sioners visited  every  hundred,  and  levied  fines  on  very  great  num- 
bers of  people.  One  roll  in  which  fines  of  £8,810  are  assessed  con- 
tains over  3,400  names.53  In  all  the  Cornishmen  and  Warbeck 's 
adherents  were  fined  £14,699,  payment  of  which  was  extended 
over  many  years.  The  last  payment  was  made  in  1507;  as  is 
shown  by  a  note  in  the  king's  own  hand  at  the  end  of  one  of 
the  rolls.54 

47  Eot.  Part,  VI,  514,  515. 

48  Wilkins,  Concilia,  III,  645. 

49  Accounts,  Exch.,  Queen's  Remembrancer,  414/6. 
so  Accounts,  Exch.,  Queen's  ijmembrancer,  414/6. 

6i  Exch.,  Treasurer  of  Eeceipt,  Misc.  Books,  126,  pp.  40,  74-78. 
52  Hall,  Chronicle  (Ed.  of  1809),  486. 

63  Eot.  Eeg.  14  B.  VII.  This  roll  is  calendared  in  Gairdner,  Letters  and 
Papers,  Eichard  HI  and  Henry  VII,  II,  App.  B,  337. 

5*  There  are  four  rolls  of  the  fines;   Accounts,  Exch.,  Queen's  Eemem- 


355]       TAXES,    LOANS,   BENEVOLENCES,   THE   FRENCH   PENSON  59 

In  the  large,  the  use  of  foreign  troubles  for  financial  ends 
is  merely  an  episode  in  the  history  of  Henry  VII  's  reign.  The 
king  was  willing  to  profit  by  them  when  they  came  ready  to  his 
hand,  but  considerable  risk  attended  their  use.  With  the  im- 
provement in  the  situation,  which  became  very  marked  even 
before  the  Scotch  war  of  1496-1497,  Henry  VII  preferred  to 
abandon  them  and  the  devices  and  dangers  they  involved. 


brancer,  516/24,  to  which  the  king's  note  is  appended,   516/27,   516/28, 
and  Eot.  Beg.  14  B.  VII. 


CHAPTER  VI 

THE  NEW  ORGANIZATION  OF  THE  FINANCIAL  SYSTEM 

De  Ayala,  the  Spanish  ambassador  once  described  King  Henry 
VII  as  spending  all  his  time,  when  not  in  public  or  in  his  coun- 
cil chamber,  in  writing  the  accounts  of  his  expenses  with  his 
own  hand.  The  description  is  scarcely  overdrawn;  for  while 
Henry  VII  did  not  actually  write  his  own  accounts,  he  spent 
a  very  large  part  of  his  time  in  examining,  annotating  and 
marking  with  his  sign  manual  the  account  books  of  his  several 
revenue  officials.  While  his  earliest,  and  always  his  chief  interest 
was  given  to  the  new  revenues  which  he  himself  had  developed, 
he  gradually  extended  his  attention  to  the  older  revenues  and 
their  expenditure.  Before  the  end  of  his  reign,  consequently, 
he  had  worked  fundamental  changes  in  the  organization  of  the 
financial  system,  as  a  result  of  which  the  king  in  person  was 
his  own  chief  treasury  official.  He  personally  knew  all  his 
receipts  and  expenditures;  he  personally  gave  acquittances  or 
discharges  to  the  special  treasurers,  and  to  him,  as  the  final 
officer  of  audit  the  great  treasuries  and  revenue  courts  themselves 
submitted  their  accounts.  The  independence  of  the  Exchequer 
was  broken  down  in  all  its  essential  parts,  and  it,  together  with 
the  new  revenue  bodies,  were  brought  under  the  unified  control 
of  the  monarch  himself. 

When  Henry  VII  became  king  the  great  financial  institution 
of  the  government  was  the  Court  of  the  Exchequer.  It  consisted 
of  two  distinct  divisions,  the  Exchequer  of  Account,  and  the 
Exchequer  of  Keceipt.  The  leading  officials  of  the  Exchequer 
of  Receipt  were  the  Under  Treasurer,  the  two  Chamberlains, 
and  their  clerks,  and  four  Tellers.1 

i  The  Lord  Treasurer,  being  a  great  official,  busied  in  other  affairs  of 
state,  had  ceased  to  attend  personally  to  his  duties  in  the  Exchequer  of 
Keceipt.  His  work  was  performed  by  his  clerks,  one  of  whom  became  the 

60 


375]         THE  NEW  ORGANIZATION  OF  THE  FINANCIAL  SYSTEM  61 

When  the  sheriff,  collector  of  customs  or  other  accountant 
came  to  London  on  the  summons  of  the  court,  with  his  account 
and  the  money  due  to  the  king,  he  went  first  to  the  Exchequer 
of  Receipt,  and  paid  his  money  to  one  of  the  Tellers.  The 
Tellers  entered  the  amount  of  money  which  they  received  into 
a  small  paper  account  book.2  Here^  we,  n  have  modern  business  m 

" 


in  the  figurative  back  room,  known  "as  thV  Court 
of  the  Receipt  there  was  a  complete  set  of  medieval  machinery 
which  had  to  be  put  into  motion  before  the  accountant  could 
have  a  receipt  for  his  money.  After  the  teller  had  made  the 
entry  into  his  paper  book,  he  copied  the  entry  upon  a  slip  of 
parchment,  giving  briefly  the  particulars  of  the  payment.8 
This  slip  or  bill  was  either  "cast  into  the  court  of  Receipt  by 
a  trunck  made  for  that  purpose"  or  according  to  other  docu- 
menlBgiven  to  the  accountant  to  beCE)£jiii^arri«J/fco  the  Court 
of  Receipt  and  handed  to  the  Treasurer's  Clerk  for  writing  the 
Tallies,  the  Clericus  ad  Tallia  Scribenda.  A  second  clerk  of  the 
Treasurer,  the  Clerk  for  Writing  the  Pells  entered  the  bill,  letter 
for  letter  into  a  record  called  the  Pell,  or  Treasurer's  Roll  of 
Receipts,  and  two  Clerks  for  Writing  the  Controllment  of  the 
Pells,  each  representing  one  of  the  Chamberlains  entered  it  into 
two  other  records,  the  so-called  Receipt  Rolls.  The  Usher  of 
the  Receipt  then  cut  notches  representing  the  sum  paid  as  stated 
in  the  bill  and  read  aloud  by  the  Clerk  for  writing  the  Tallies 
into  the  side  of  a  square  stick  of  hazel  wood,  or  tally.  When  the 
tally  was  properly  notched,  the  Clerk  for  Writing  the  Tallies 
copied  the  bill  upon  the  two  sides  of  it  word  for  word.  Finally 
the  Clerks  of  the  Chamberlains  for  Splitting  the  Tallies,  the 
Clerici  ad  Tallia  Scindenda  compared  the  notches  in  the  tally 
and  the  two  inscriptions  upon  the  sides  of  it  with  the  bill,  and 
the  three  entries  in  the  three  receipt  rolls.  If  all  agreed,  the 
Clerks  for  Splitting  the  Tallies  split  the  tally  down  the  center 

Under  Treasurer.  The  Under  Treasurer  is  sometimes  called  Clerk  of  the 
Treasurer  even  in  the  early  years  of  Henry  VIII  's  reign.  Exch.  of  Eeceipt, 
Declarations  of  the  State  of  the  Treasury,  II,  III,  IV. 

2  Examples  of  these  account  books,  many  of  which  are  preserved  for 
the  reigns  of  Henry  VII  and  his  successors  are  Exch.,  Treasury  of  Eeceipt, 
Misc.  Boolcs,  124,  125. 

s  Many  files  of  these  slips  are  preserved  as  '  '  Tellers  Bills,  '  '  among  the 
manuscripts  of  the  Exchequer  of  Receipt  in  the  Public  Eecord  Office. 


62  ENGLISH   GOVERNMENT   FINANCE  [358 

of  the  notched  side,  so  that  each  half  carried  a  record  of  the 
payment.  One  half,  called  the  stock  was  given  to  the  account- 
ant, and  the  other,  the  foil,  was  deposited  in  the  court,  to  be 
sent  to  the  Exchequer  of  account,  there  to  be  compared  with 
the  stock  by  the  Chamberlain's  Clerks  for  Joining  the  Tallies 
*  when  the  accountant  should  present  his  account  for  audit.* 

In  earlier  times,  the  money  received  at  the  Exchequer  of 
Keceipt  was  kept  in  the  custody  of  the  Lord  Treasurer  and  the 
Chamberlains.  But  in  Henry  VII 's  reign  or  before,  the  Lord 
Treasurer  and  Chamberlains  "were  clearly  discharged  of  their 
account  of  the  king's  money,"  and  the  money  received  by  the 
Tellers  remained  in  their  own  custody.5  It  was  paid  out  by 
them  on  warrants  of  the  king  under  the  great  and  privy  seals, 
formally  directed  however  as  in  the  past,  to  the  Treasurer  and 
Chamberlains.  When  the  Tellers  issued  money,  they  simply 
entered  the  payment,  giving  the  name  of  the  person,  the  amount 
and  other  particulars  into  their  paper  account  books,  and  had 
the  man  who  had  received  the  money  either  sign  the  book  di- 
rectly below  the  entry,  or  sign  a  simple  paper  receipt.6  In 
earlier  times,  when  the  Lord  Treasurer  and  Chamberlains  still 
had  the  custody  of  money,  a  very  elaborate  process  was  neces- 
sary before  money  could  be  disbursed  at  the  Exchequer  by 
the  Tellers,  and  the  record  of  the  payment  was  entered  into 
issue  rolls  in  triplicate,  very  similar  to  the  three  receipt  rolls.7 
But  now  that  the  Tellers  had  actual  custody  of  the  money  and 
were  ^ponsible  for  it,  the  simpler  system  of  keeping  accounts 
of  issues  was  possible. 

*  The  practices  of  the  Exchequer  of  Eeceipt  are  taken  from  a  bundle  of 
documents  in  the  Kecord  Office,  Exch.  of  Eeceipt,  Miscellanea,  396,  relating 
to  a  dispute  between  two  officials  in  the  time  of  Elizabeth.  In  these  it 
is  stated  on  the  evidence  of  men  who  had  been  in  the  court  in  Henry  VII 's 
reign,  that  practices  were  the  same  in  the  reigns  of  Henry  VII  and  Henry 
VIII.  Especially  valuable  are  the  papers  numbered  2,  7,  17,  82. 

5  The  earliest  evidence  that  the  Tellers  actually  retained  custody  of 
the  money  is  in  one  of  the  Teller's  account  Books,  Exch.,  Treasury  of 
Eeceipt,  Misc.  BooTcs,  124,  pp.  76,  130,  188,  anno  5-6  Henry  VII. 

8  Examples  of  such  receipts  and  signatures  are  found  in  Exch.t  Treasury 
of  Eeceipt,  Misc.  Books,  126,  131. 

7  The  triple  issue  rolls  cease  with  Eichard  III 's  reign.  When  they 
were  resumed  in  Elizabeth 's  reign  they  were  at  ' '  first  merely  transcripts 
from  the  teller's  entry  books." 


359]         THE  NEW  ORGANIZATION  OF  THE  FINANCIAL  SYSTEM  63 

The  amount  of  money  actually  received  at  the  Exchequer  of 
Receipt  in  Henry  VII  's,  and  in  the  early  part  of  Henry  VIII  's 
reign  was  very  small,  except  in  years  when  a  subsidy  was  col- 
lected, or  a  loan  levied.8  Most  of  the  "receipts"  of  the  Ex- 
chequer was  never  brought  to  London  at  all,  but  was  assigned 
by  tallies.  Warrants  for  disbursements  directed  to  the  Treas- 
urer and  Chamberlains  were  sent  either  to  the  Tellers,  who 
paid  them  in  cash,  or  to  the  Court  of  Receipt.  A  warrant  sent 
thither  might  call  for  the  payment  of  £1,000  to  the  Duke  of  Yor 
for  the  custody  of  the  East  and  Middle  Marches 


At  the  Court  of  Receipt  direction  would  be  given  that  the  Duke 
of  York  should  be  paid  the  sum  by  the  collectors  of  customs  at 
London,  Pole,  Yarmouth,  Lynn,  Bridgewater,  Hull,  Exeter 
and  Dartmouth,  and  Chichester.  After  the  amount  to  be  paid  by 
each  collector  had  been  determined  upon,  for  example,  £100  by 
the  collector  at  Hull,  much  the  same  performance  ensued  as  though 
these  amounts  had  actually  been  paid  into  the  Exchequer.  Tal- 
lies were  cut,  written,  split  and  enrolled  in  the  three  Receipt 
Rolls  for  the  amounts;  but  in  the  margin  opposite  the  sums 
the  words  "pro  duce  Ebor.  per  tall"  with  the  reason  for  the 
assignment  were  written,  instead  of  the  usual  sol.  (paid).  The 
foils  of  the  tallies  were  preserved  in  the  court,  but  the  stocks 
were  given  to  the  Duke  of  York.  They  were  in  the  nature  of 
checks  or  drafts.  The  Duke  presented  them  to  the  various 
collectors  named,  whoi  on  sight  of  them  paid  the  sums  repre- 
sented by  them  to  him,  instead  of  the  Tellers  of  the  Receipt, 
and  received  the  tallies  as  their  acquittance.  Assignments  by 
tallies  were  not  without  their  inconveniences.  They  occasioned 
long  delay,  and  in  some  cases  could  not  be  collected  at  all. 
Every  year  many  "desperate  tallies"  were  returned  to  the 
Exchequer  for  redemption.9  In  Henry  VIII  's  reign  the  use 
of  assignments  by  tallies  was  reduced,  so  that  by  1541  the 

s  During  the  first  year  of  Henry  VII,  £1,866  19s.  lOd.  in  money  was 
received  at  the  Exchequer  of  Eeceipt;  in  the  eighth  year  £3,860  17s.  3%d. 
and  in  the  last  year  £4,717  Is.  7d.  Exch.,  Treasury  of  Receipt,  Misc.  Books, 
125;  Exch.,  Treasury  of  Eeceipt,  Declarations  of  the  State  of  the  Treas- 
ury, I. 

9  The  history  and  method  of  assignment  by  tallies  are  more  elaborately 
described  by  Hilary  Jenkenson,  Archeologia,  LXII,  part  II,  369-371,  "Ex- 
chequer Tallies." 


64  ENGLISH   GOVERNMENT   FINANCE  [360 

greater  part  of  the  business  of  the  Exchequer  was  done  in  cash, 
with  as  a  consequence,  an  increase  in  the  prestige  of  the  Tellers, 
and  a  lessened  importance  of  the  medieval  elements  of  the  Ex- 
chequer of  Receipt. 

The  examination  and  audit  of  the  particulars  and  details 
of  the  accounts  of  revenue  collectors  was  left  to  the  Exchequer 
of  account,  or  Upper  Exchequer.  Here  a  very  elaborate  system 
of  checks  which  had  grown  up  in  past  centuries,  examination  by 
Exchequer  auditors,  formal  engrossing,  and  enrollment  in  the 
great  parchment  rolls  of  the  Lord  Treasurer's  Remembrancer's 
office,  insured  considerable  honesty,  even  though  not  efficiency 
and  speed.10  With  this  formal  audit  system  of  the  Exchequer 
of  Account,  Henry  VII  never  interfered,  though  he  did  with- 
draw from  its  purview  certain  important  kinds  of  accounts, 
leaving  there  the  only  customs  accounts  and  the  account  of  the 
Calais  Staple  for  the  wool  subsidy,  the  accounts  of  the  feudal 
revenue  of  the  sheriffs,  bailiffs,  escheators,  the  accounts  of  col- 
lectors of  the  subsidy,  the  accounts  of  certain  crown  lands,  the 
mint  accounts,  the  account  of  the  Clerk  of  the  Hanaper,  and  the 
accounts  of  the  expenditures  in  the  Household  and  Wardrobe. 

The  Exchequer  of  Receipt,  where  the  revenues  were  actually 
received  and  paid,  was  gradually  brought  more  directly  under  the 
royal  control.  Before  Henry  VII 's  reign  the  Receipt  and  Issue 
Rolls,  drawn  up  from  the  Tellers '  entry  books  and  bills  were  the 
formal  records  of  the  Exchequer  of  Receipt.  In  them  no  clas- 
sification of  receipts  and  expenditures  was  made  to  show  the 
revenue  derived  from  the  several  sources,  or  the  expenditures  for 
various  purposes.  In  no  case  was  any  addition  made  to  show 
even  the  total  of  all  revenues  or  all  expenditures.  Toward  the 
close  of  Henry  VII 's  reign  however,  the  Under  Treasurer  began 
to  draw  up  each  year  a  Declaration  of  the  State  of  the  Treasury, 
showing  the  total  revenue  received  or  assigned  in  the  Exchequer 

10  The  original  particulars  and  bills  of  the  accountant  were  carefully 
examined  by  the  auditors;  from  them  a  Compotus,  written  on  parchment 
was  drawn  up,  which  when  approved  was  signed  at  the  top  by  the  auditors 
and  Exchequer  barons  and  enrolled  on  the  Pipe  Boll,  the  Foreign  Roll, 
the  Customs  Boll,  the  Subsidy  Boll  or  the  Wardrobe  and  Household  Boll. 
When  enrolled  a  line  was  drawn  down  the  center  of  the  compotus,  and 
with  the  original  particulars  and  bills  in  a  little  leathern  bag,  it  was  sent 
to  the  office  of  the  King's  Remembrancer  to  be  preserved. 


361]         THE  NEW  ORGANIZATION  OF  THE  FINANCIAL  SYSTEM  65 

of  Receipt,  and  the  various  purposes  for  which  money  was  ex- 
pended, with  the  total  expenditure  for  each.11  These  Declar- 
ations for  the  first  time  made  it  possible  for  the  king  to  know 
exactly  the  state  of  his  receipts  and  expenditures  in  this  office, 
and  they  symbolized  also  the  king's  more  perfect  supervision 
over  the  lower  branch  of  the  Exchequer  Court. 

By  the  nature  of  its  development,  with  so  many  medieval  meth- 
ods part  and  parcel  of  its  organization,  the  Exchequer  was  ill-fit- 
ted to  be  adapted  to  more  modern  requirements.  Its  officials  were 
slow  in  levying  the  revenues  due  to  the  king;  accountants  were 
respited  from  year  to  year,  and  payments  were  deferred  "by 
space  of  many  years."  It  was  moreover,  the  stronghold  of 
t  noble  privilege  and  reaction.  It  had  been  weakened  by  royal 
)  control  over  the  Exchequer  of  Receipt,  but  even  more  desirable 
*  was  the  creation  of  new  bodies  entirely  free  from  the  old  tra- 
ditions and  influences.  Richard  III  had  already  recognized 
its  deficiencies  and  purposed  to  institute  changes  in  the  revenue 
system  and  its  organization.  In  the  management  of  the  newly 
acquired  estates  of  the  crown  the  Exchequer  of  Account,  and 
all  its  methods  were  to  be  superseded,  while  a  new  treasury  to  take 
its  place  beside  the  Exchequer  of  Receipt  was  to  be  instituted. 
Following  and  improving  upon  the  plan  used  for  the  lands 
of  the  Duchy  of  Lancaster,12  Richard  III  proposed  clearly  to 
discharge  and  dismiss  the  court  of  the  Exchequer  from  any 
.meddling  with  any  livelihood  in  taking  of  accounts,  such  as 
the  principality  of  Wales,  the  Duchies  of  Cornwall,  York  and 
Norfolk,  the  earldoms  of  Chester,  March,  Warwick  and  Salis- 
bury and  all  other  lands  in  the  king's  hands  by  forfeiture.18 

11  The  first  Declaration  known  is  for  the  /ear  Easter  1505  to  Easter 
1506.     It  is  found  in  a  Jacobean  copy,  in  Landsdowne  Mss.,  156,  f.  124ff. 
The  Declarations  were  made  regularly  by  the  Under  Treasurer  until  1551. 

12  In  1399  by  a  charter  of  Henry  IV  all  the  lands  and  possessions  of 
the  Duchy  were   declared  to  be  a  distinct  inheritance  separate  from  the 
lands  and  possessions  of  the  crown.     The  management  of  the  Duchy  lands 
was  placed  under  a  separate  establishment,  the  Chancellor  and  Council  of  the 
Duchy  of  Lancaster,  and  the  distribution  of  the  revenues  by  a  distinct 
treasury  was  ordered.     Although  the  Chancellor  and  Council  audited  the 
accounts  of  ministers  and  receivers  of  the  lands  of  the  Duchy,  the  clear 
revenues  were  paid  into  the  Exchequer  of  Eeceipt,  and  no  new  treasury  was 
established. 

!3  The  old  feudal  demesne  lands  of  the  crown,   the  corpus  comitatus, 


66  ENGLISH   GOVERNMENT   FINANCE  [362 

These  lands  were  to  be  placed  in  charge  o^  receivers  to  collect 
their  revenues  and  rents  and  of  ''foreign"  auditors  to  take  their 
accounts,  for  the  purpose  of  increasing  their  yield  to  the  crown, 
and  strengthening  the  control  of  the  crown  over  them.  These 
new  auditors  and  receivers  should  yearly  ride,  survey,  receive 
and  remember  in  every  behalf  that  might  be  most  for  the  king's 
profit,  and  thereof  yearly  to  make  report  of  the  estate  and 
condition  of  the  same  by  which  the  king's  grace  should  know 
all  the  lordships  that  pertained  to  his  crown.  These  officials 
were  not  to  be  unlettered  knights  and  squires  who  took  great 
fines  and  rewards  of  the  king's  tenants  to  their  own  use,  but 
"learned  men  in  the  law,"  who  would  be  most  profitable  to 
be  stewards  of  the  said  livelihood  for  many  causes  concerning 
the  king's  profit  and  weal  of  his  tenants.14  These  officials  were 
not  to  account  before  the  Exchequer  but  should  make  yearly 
declaration  of  all  such  revenues  as  they  had  in  charge  before 
such  persons  as  the  king's  grace  would  assign  at  London,  be- 
tween Candlemas  and  Palm-sunday.  Exchequer  auditors  were 
to  make  a  similar  declaration  at  the  same  time,  so  that  the  king 
might  know  every  year  the  total  of  his  revenues,  and  ''what 
thereof  is  paid  and  what  is  owing. ' ' 15 

This  was  equivalent  to  the  establishment  of  a  new  system 
for  the  land  revenue,  with  an  independent  revenue  court  of 

farmed  out  by  the  sheriffs,  were  so  unimportant  through  the  alienations  of 
terrae  datae  that  no  change  in  their  management  was  contemplated  by  Rich- 
ard  III,  and  none  was  made  in  Henry  VII 's  or  his  successor's  reigns. 

i*  Foreign  auditors  and  receivers,  riding  around  the  country  are  found 
as  early  as  the  reign  of  Richard  II  in  the  Principality  of  Wales,  and  the 
Duchy  of  Cornwall,  and  in  the  reign  of  Edward  IV  in  the  lands  of  the 
Duke  of  Clarence  Calendar  of  Patent  Soils,  Richard  II,  V,  24;  Ibid., 
Henry  V,  I,  139-140;  Ibid.,  Edward  IV,  Edward  V,  Richard  III,  III,  98, 
220.  The  Exchequer  apparently  had  jurisdiction  over  such  auditors  and 
receivers,  and  perhaps  Exchequer  officials  ever  reexamined  accounts  passed 
by  the  foreign  auditors.  Richard  III  once  ordered  the  Exchequer  to 
accept  the  account  of  the  Receiver-General  of  Cornwall  already  examined 
by  the  foreign  auditor,  as  final  and  give  a  discharge  for  it.  Exch.,  King's 
Remembrancer,  Memoranda  Rolls,  260  Brevia  Directa,  Hilary  term,  mem- 
brane 4. 

is  Richard  III 's  plan,  entitled  ' '  A  Remembraunce  made  for  the  more 
hasty  levy  of  the  Kinges  revenues"  is  printed  in  Gairdner,  Letters  and 
Papers,  Richard  III  and  Henry  VII,  I,  81-85. 


363]         THE  NEW  ORGANIZATION  OF  THE  FINANCIAL  SYSTEM  67 

audit  and  account;  but  Kichard  III  did  not  carry  out  his 
plans  completely.  At  the  beginning  of  Henry  VII 's  reign 
the  recivers  were  still  rendering  their  accounts  at  the  Exchequer 
of  Account.  But  the  beginning  of  the  establishment  of  a  new 
treasury  for  the  receipt  of  revenue,  along  side  of  the  Exchequer 
of  Receipt  had  been  made  even  as  early  as  the  reign  of  Edward 
IV.  For  during  his  reign,  the  benevolences  do  not  appear  on 
the  Receipt  Rolls  as  paid  at  the  Exchequer;  while  on  the  other 
hand,  large  payments  from  the  king's  own  coffers  suggest  that 
it  was  to  the  coffers  directly  that  the  benevolences  were  paid.16 
During  the  reign  of  Richard  III,  the  amount  of  money  paid 
into  the  Exchequer  of  Receipt  from  the  crown  lands  was  very 
small,  and  the  money  from  the  lands  was  in  some  cases  at  least, 
and  may  usually  have  been  paid  not  at  the  Exchequer,  but  to 
the  king 's  own  hands,  in  his  chamber.17 

Henry  VII  carried  out  the  plans  of  Richard  III  completely. 
For  the  royal  lands  he  erected  a  new  court  of  audit  and  account, 
and  to  receive  his  new  revenues  and  some  of  the  old  ones,  he 
transformed  the  King's  chamber  into  a  treasury  which  was  of 
vastly  greater  importance  than  the  Exchequer  of  Receipt  during 
the  next  third  of  a  century.  The  new  court  of  audit  was  for  a 
long  time  very  informal,  and  even  on  Henry  VII 's  death  it 
was  not  completely  developed.  Its  beginnings  are  shrouded  in 
obscurity.  There  is  however,  certain  circumstantial  evidence 
about  its  origin.  In  the  first  years  of  Henry  VII 's  reign  the 
great  Roll  of  Foreign  Accounts  of  the  Exchequer  is  quite  full. 
It  contains  the  enrollments  of  the  accounts  of 'the  receiver- 
general  of  the  Warwick  and  Spencer  lands,  and  of  the  Duchy 
of  Cornwall,  the  Chamberlain  of  Berwick,  the  Treasurer  of 
Calais,  the  Mayor  and  Fellowship  of  the  Staple,  the  Clerk  of 
the  Hanaper  and  the  Treasurer  of  the  Mint.  Certain  of  these 
accounts  disappeared  from  the  Foreign  Roll  after  the  eighth 
year,  —  those  of  the  Warwick  and  Spencer  lands,  of  the  Duchy 
of  Cornwall,  of  the  Chamberlain  of  Berwick  and  of  the  Treas- 

16  Ramsay,  Lancaster  and  York,  II,  465,  467,  557. 

"  A  note  is  found  in  the  Memoranda  Bolls  (Excli.,  King's  Remembrancer, 
Memoranda  Molls,  260,  Brevia  baronibus  Directa,  Hilary  term,  membrane 
12)  that  John  Hayes,  receiver  of  the  Warwick  lands  has  paid  four  hundred 
Marks  "to  our  (Richard  Ill's)  own  hands  in  our  chamber." 


68  ENGLISH   GOVERNMENT   FINANCE  [364 

urer  of  Calais.  Moreover,  no  accounts  of  the  lands  newly  ac- 
quired by  Henry  VII  ever  appeared  in  the  Foreign  Roll.18  The 
evidence  of  the  Foreign  Roll  in  which  all  land  revenue  accounts 
audited  at  the  Exchequer  (except  those  of  the  ancient  firma 
comitatus)  would  be  enrolled,  suggests  that  the  lands  newly  ac- 
quired by  Henry  VII  were  never  in  the  province  of  the  Ex- 
chequer, while  some  of  the  most  important  of  the  older  estates 
were  removed  from  the  Exchequer  jurisdiction.  The  Repertoires 
to  States  and  Views  of  Public  Accounts,  an  index  kept  in  the 
Lord  Treasurer's  Remembrancer's  office,  of  all  accountants 
who  came  to  the  Exchequer,  shows  that  during  the  first  eight 
years  of  the  reign  receivers  and  receivers-general  of  the  king's 
lands  came  to  the  Exchequer  in  lessening  numbers,  and  prac- 
tically ceased  to  account  there.19  The  Ministers'  Accounts, 
preserved  at  the  Public  Records  Office  are  also  of  service.20 
For  the  first  three  years  of  Henry  VII  's  compoti  are  found  for 
many  crown  lands,  so  marked  as  to  show  that  they  were  audited 
and  enrolled  in  the  Exchequer.21  The  compoti  of  John  Walsh, 
one  of  the  receivers-general  of  the  Warwick,  Spencer  and  Salis- 
bury lands  are  signed  and  marked  as  audited  and  enrolled  in  the 
Exchequer  for  the  first  five  years  of  the  reign,  to  Michaelmas 


.,  Lord  Treasurer's  Remembrancer,  Foreign  Boll,  119.  The  ac- 
counts of  receivers  of  certain  very  small  parcels  of  land  continued  to  be 
"enrolled  in"  the  Foreign  Roll  for  a  long  time  after  this. 

!9  Repertoires  to  States  and  Views,  Public  Eecord  Office  Indexes,  7025. 

20  Though  there  are  several  thousand  Minister's  Accounts  in  the  time  of 
Henry  VII,  very  few  are  of  value  for  this  problem.  As  the  royal  land  system 
was  organized  the  individual  manors  were  in  charge  of  bailiffs  and'  min- 
isters who  paid  the  money  they  collected  from  the  tenants  to  a  receiver 
who  was  in  charge  of  a  large  district.     If  the  particular  estate  was  very 
large,  there  might  be  four  or  five  receivers,  who  paid  the  revenues  to  a 
receiver-general.     Many  of  the   Ministers'   Accounts   are   the   accounts   of 
bailiffs  and  receivers,  from  which  the  Receiver-General  made  up  his  account, 
and  he  submitted  these  with  his  account  in  London,  as  the  original  par- 
ticulars and  bills.     These  original  particulars  are  of  no  value  in  deter- 
mining  where    the    account    was    audited,    since    no    distinguishing    mark 
of   any  kind   was  ever  placed  on  them.     Only  the   final  account   of  the 
Receiver-General,  the  compotus,  is  of  service. 

21  They  are  signed  at  tlie  top  by  the  Barons  and  auditors  of  the  Ex- 
chequer and  have  a  line  drawn  down  through  the  center.     Enrolments  of 
all  are  found  in  the  Foreign  Roll.     Ministers'  Accounts,  Henry  VII,  1101, 
1102,  1239,  1240,  1356,  1472. 


365]         THE  NEW  ORGANIZATION  OF  THE  FINANCIAL  SYSTEM  69 

H90.  Compoti  of  this  same  account  for  the  seventh  and  a  later 
year  are  neither  signed  or  marked  as  enrolled  in  the  Exchequer. 
In  the  Foreign  Eoll,  the  last  enrollment  of  Walsh's  account 
was  in  the  eighth  year  of  the  reign,  for  the  revenues  of  the 
sixth  year.  The  Compoti  of  John  Hayes,  the  other  receiver 
general  of  the  Warwick,  Spencer  and  Salisbury  lands  are  marked 
as  audited  and  enrolled  in  the  Exchequer  to  the  end  of  the 
sixth  year.  The  last  entry  in  the  Foreign  Roll  of  Hayes's  ac- 
counts is  for  the  sixth  year.  The  only  Compoti  which  are  signed 
by  the  Barons  and  auditors  of  the  Exchequer,  and  marked  as 
enrolled  later  than  the  sixth  year  are  the  Compoti  of  the  Con- 
stable of  Windsor  Castle  from  the  ninth  to  the  seventeenth 
years  of  Henry  VII,  and  these  duly  appear  on  the  foreign  roll.22 
Many  Compoti  later  than  the  sixth  year  are  preserved  which 
are  not  marked  with  any  Exchequer  mark.  More  than  that, 
certain  of  them  differ  in  form  and  phrasing  from  the  old  Compo- 
tus  and  the  money  for  which  they  account  is  noted  as  paid  to 
John  Heron,  or  to  the  Kings  Chamber.23  It  may  be  that 
at  the  end  of  the  eighth  year  of  the  reign,  that  is  after  Michael- 
mas 1493,  when  the  accounts  of  the  sixth  year  were  rendered, 
changes  in  the  organization  of  the  revenue  system  were  made. 
Lands  were  taken  out  of  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Exchequer,  and 
their  accounts  no  longer  received  there.  Yet  the  accounts  were 
drawn  up  and  audited  regularly  without  break.  The  new  audit- 
ing body  was  the  beginning  of  the  new  revenue  court  of  audit. 

Butlerage  and  Prisage  were  also  withdrawn  from  Exchequer 
jurisdiction  later  in  the  reign.    In  this  case  there  is  preserved 

22  John  Walsh's  accounts  are  found  in  Ministers'  Accounts,  Henry  VII, 
1370-1374.     John  Hayes's  accounts,  ibid.,  1356-1361.     The  accounts  of  the 
Constable  of  Windsor,  ibid.,  20. 

23  The    Compoti   of    Sir    William    Stanley 's    lands   in    Chester   for    the 
eleventh  and  eighteenth  years  of  the  reign  are  examples.     The  membranes 
of  the  accounts  of  the  bailiffs  are  attached  to  the  membrane  on  which 
the  Compotus  is  written  and  the  payment  of  money  is  noted,  "  Et  in  denariis 
liberatis  ad  Receptam  coffuri  domini  Eegis  tarn  de  arragiis  quam  de  parte 
Kecepte  sue  supradicta  ad  manum  Johannis  Heron  ad  duas  vices,  una  vice 
per    billam    suam    apud    Westmonasterium    X.    die    Novembris    .     .     sub 
signeto  et  signo  manuali  dicti  Johannis  Heron  suprt  compotum  liberatis 
et  penes  praedictum  Eeceptorem  remanentes. "    Ministers'  Accounts,  Henry 
VII,   1562,   1564.     Other  examples  art  found  ibid.,  133,   134,  1047,  1373, 
1374,  1391-1393. 


70  ENGLISH   GOVERNMENT  FINANCE  [366 

an  original  indenture  telling  something  of  the  new  court  and  the 
names  of  its  chief  officials.  ' '  This  indenture,  twentieth  February, 
anno  XX.  (1505)  betwen  Roger  Bishop  of  Carlisle  and  Robert 
Southwell  knight,  on  the  one  part,  and  William  Hodre  knight, 
Chief  Baron  of  the  King's  Exchequer,  Bartholomew  Westby, 
William  Bollyngay  and  John  Allen,  Barons  of  the  Exchequer 
on  the  other  part,  witnesseth  the  names  of  such  of  the  King's 
officers  and  accountants  as  have  appeared  and  entered  their 
account  before  the  said  Roger  Bishop  of  Carlisle  and  the  said 
Robert  Southwell,  having  the  King's  authority  to  call  them  in 
that  behalf.  Against  all  which  persons  underwritten  so  being 
in  account  before  the  said  Bishop  and  Robert  Southwell,  the 
said  Bishop  and  Robert  desire  Remanentes  processes  hanging  in 
the  said  Exchequer  for  causes  underwritten  to  be  put  in  suspense 
according  to  the  King's  letter  in  this  behalf  directed."24  The 
Bishop  of  Carlisle  and  Robert  Southwell  are  named  again  in 
the  accounts  ofihe  receiver-general  of  the  Duchy  of  Cornwall 
for  the  nineteenth  year,  where  an  item  in  the  account  is 
noted  as  respited  "per  mandate  Rogeri  Carl,  episcopi  et  Robert 
Southwell  consiliari  domini  Regis. ' ' 25  Finally,  for  the  nine- 
teenth, twentieth  and  twenty-first  years  of  the  reign  there  are 
the  general  declarations  of  the  accounts  of  this  new  court,  made 
to  the  king  by  Robert  Southwell.  These  show  that  by  that  time 
the  court,  still  dependent  for  its  existence  merely  upon  the 
king's  authority,  was  highly  organized,  and  took  the  accounts 
of  practically  all  the  crown  lands,  (except  the  Duchy  of  Lan- 
caster), of  wards'  lands  in  the  king's  hands,  and  of  Butlerage 
and  Prisage.26 

24  Accounts,  Exch.,  Queen's  Remembrancer,  517/10. 

25  Minister's  Accounts,  Henry  VII,  1084. 

2*Exch.,  Treaswy  of  Beceipt,  Misc.  BooTcs,  213,  212.  The  preamble  of 
the  Declaration  for  the  twenty-first  year  runs  — ' '  Liber  declarationum  de 
anno  Regis  Henry  VII.  XXI.mo  tarn  de  terris  domini  regis  quam  de 
tcrris  wardorum  domino  regi  accommodatis,  de  Butts  et  Prisage  vinorum 
per  Robertum  Southwell."  The  account  of  each  separate  estate  is  set 
forth  on  a  page  by  itself,  and  the  gross  revenue,  the  costs  of  repairs 
and  of  management,  the  money  paid  to  Heron  and  the  unpaid  arrears  are 
shown.  Other  account  books  of  the  court,  dealing  with  the  wards'  landa 
alone  are  also  f  oundj  Exch.,  Treasury  of  Eeceipt,  Miso.  Books,  247,  248. 
Each  page  of  all  these  books  is  signed  by  the  king  himself  with  his  sign- 
manual. 


367]         THE  NEW  ORGANIZATION  OF  THE  FINANCIAL  SYSTEM  71 

The  new  court  early  known  as  the  Court  of  General  Survey- 
ors, was  a  court  of  audit  like  the  Exchequer  of  Account.  A 
treasury,  like  the  Treasury  of  Receipt,  was  a  necessary  adjunct. 
This  place  was  filled  by  the  Treasurer  of  the  Chamber,  who 
already  in  Richard  Ill's  reign,  and  possibly  in  the  reign  of 
Edward  IV,  had  received  certain  of  the  royal  revenues.  In 
as  much  as  he  was  in  personal  attendance  upon  the  King, 
treasure  in  his  hands  would  be  more  directly  under  the  control 
and  at  the  disposal  of  the  King  than  in  the  Exchequer  of 
Receipt.  Sir  Thomas  Lovell  was  appointed  Treasurer  of  the 
Chamber  in  the  first  year  of  Henry  VII 's  reign,  and  as  late 
as  1506  he  held  the  office.  The  actual  work,  however,  certainly 
from  1487  on,  was  done  by  his  deputy,  John  Heron,  who  himself 
became  Treasurer  of  the  Chamber  before  the  end  of  the  reign. 
To  him  were  paid  the  new  revenues  of  all  kinds  from  lands, 
the  proceeds  of  the  benevolence  and  the  forced  loans,  the  French 
pensions,  the  surplus  of  Calais  and  Berwick,  some  customs  rev- 
enues and  the  later  clerical  and  lay  subsidies,  and  all  the  money 
received  by  recognizance  and  by  obligation.  Some  of  these 
items  were  paid  to  him  by  assignment  of  tallies  from  the  Ex- 
chequer, and  represent  the  unexpended  surplus  of  the  Exchequer, 
paid  to  him  by  royal  warrant.  The  accounts  of  such  were 
rendered  in  the  Exchequer  of  Account.  But  the  more  important 
of  the  items  enumerated  came  to  him  as  the  regular  treasurer 
of  the  newly  established  court  of  audit.  He  was  further  ap- 
pointed treasurer  of  the  revenues  of  the  Duchy  of  Lancaster, 
such  as  were  in  excess  of  those  appropriated  by  Parliament 
for  the  purpose  of  the  Household.  The  relations  between  the 
Treasurer  of  the  Chamber  and  the  Kin»  were  particularly  per- 
sonal and  intimate.  Until  much  later  in  Henry  VII 's  reign, 
it  was  unnecessary  for  the  Treasurer  of  the  Chamber  to  draw 
up  any  formal  declaration  of  his  accounts,  as  was  done  by  the 
Exchequer  of  Receipt,  the  new  land  court  of  audit,  and  the 
Duchy  of  Lancaster,  since  his  account  books  of  the  receipts  and 
issues  of  his  office  were  examined  every  day  by  the  King  himself. 
Nearly  every  page  of  his  books  bears  the  royal  sign  manual, 
with  notes  in  the  King's  own  hand.27 

27  With  the  development  of  the  Treasury  of  the  Chamber  under  Henry 
VII  compare  the  analogous  developments  of  the  Wardrobe  and  Chamber 


72  ENGLISH   GOVERNMENT   FINANCE  [368 

The  new  court  of  audit  and  the  enhanced  position  of  the 
Treasurer  of  the  Chamber,  were  displeasing  to  the  Exchequer 
and  its  officials.  Even  while  Henry  VII  was  still  king,  the  Ex- 
chequer officials  instituted  processes  against  accountants  who 
had  ceased  to  present  their  accounts  in  the  Exchequer,  and  Henry 
VII  found  it  necessary  to  instruct  his  attorney-general  to  take 
these  processes  into  his  own  hands  and  command  the  Exchequer 
officers  to  "  surcease  of  any  further  process  making,  touching 
this  matter,  until  they  shall  know  therein  our  further  pleag 
But  directly  that  Henry  VII  had  died,  the  Exchequer- 
vex  and  trouble  such  receivers  and  receivers-general  who  paid 
their  money  to  John  Heron  and  accounted  before  the  General 
Surveyors.  The  Exchequer  refused  to  accept  the  bills  and  books 
signed  by  the  King  or  by  Heron,  and  compelled  the  accountants 
to  come  personally  and  appear  in  the  Exchequer,  render  ac- 
counts anew,  and  make  a  second  payment,  into  the  Exchequer  of 
Keceipt  "as  if  they  had  never  accounted  nor  made  payment, 
to  their  importable  loss,  trouble,  hurt  and  damage  against  all 
right  reason  and  goodjcpjiscince."  Since  Henry  VIII  and  his 
advisers  had  no  intentionoireTurning  to  the  slow,  cumbersome 
Exchequer  system,  an  act  was  passed  in  Henry  VIII 's  first 
Parliament  commanding  the  Exchequer  officials  to  honor  all  bills 
and  acquittances  signed  by  Heron.29  Shortly  afterward,  on 
February  6,  1511,  the  King,  intending  to  continue  the  same 
order  of  account  before  his  General  Surveyors,  and  "  to  be 
answered  of  his  revenues  in  his  Chamber, ' '  issued  a  special  com- 
mission to  Sir  Robert  Southwell  (who  had  been  one  of  the  Gen- 
eral Surveyors  under  Henry  VII),  and  Bartholomew  Westby, 
who  took  the  place  of  the  deceased  Bishop  of  Carlisle,  to  survey 
and  approve  the  royal  lands,  and  to  continue  the  new  court  of 
audit  for  land  revenue  originated  under  Henry  VII.80 

The  first  thought  of  Henry  VIII 's  government  seems  to  have 
been  to  make  the  General  Surveyors  a  department  oi-  the  Ex- 


in  the  13th  and  14th  centuries,  studied  by  Professor  T.  F.  To^,  in  his 
brilliant  Chapters  in  the  Administrative  History  of  Medieval  England. 

28  Accounts,  Exch.,  Queen's  'Remembrancer,  302/14. 

29  Statutes,  1  Henry  VIII,  c.  3.     This  act  was  to  continue  to  the  next 
Parliament. 

so  Statutes,  3  Henry  VIII,  c.  23,  page  45.     The  commission,  incorporated 
into  this  statute  of  the  following  year,  is  recited  here  in  full. 


369]         THE  NEW  ORGANIZATION  OP  THE  FINANCIAL  SYSTEM  73 

chequer.  For  in  addition  to  the  commission  of  February  6, 
1511,  there  were  issued  two  Privy  Seals,  dated  June  30,  1510, 
and  October  31,  1511,  according  to  which  accountants  could 
be  summoned  only  by  the  Exchequer,  and  process  made  out 
against  them  for  failure  to  account  only  in  the  Exchequer. 
Moreover,  Southwell  and  Westby  were  not  empowered  to  ad- 
minister oaths.  All  accountants  had  to  be  sworn  before  the 
Exchequer  Barons  before  being  sent  to  Southwell  and  Westby. 
But  because  no  summons  could  be  issued  from  the  Exchequer 
in  vacation  times,  which  were  notoriously  long,  many  delays 
ensued  to  the  great  loss  of  the  King,  and  of  accountants  who 
came  to  London  during  vacation^periods.  To  remedy  these  de- 
fects and  "for  a  further  and  stringer  authority"  to  be  given  to 
Southwell  and  Westby  than  could  be  given  to  the  royal  commis- 
sion and  the  Privy  seals,  Parliament  at  its  second  session,  in 
1511-1512  passed  an  act  appointing  the  General  Surveyors  and 
Approvers  of  all  and  singular  of  the  King's  lands  and  estates, 
with  supervision,  but  not  direct  control  over  the  Duchy  of 
Lancaster.  They  were  given  full  power  to  summon  accountants 
and  to  give  the  acquittance  upon  bills  signed  by  Henry  VII, 
Henry  VIII  or  John  Heron.  By  the  same  act  Heron  was  con- 
firmed in  the  office  of  the  Treasurer  of  the  Chamber  to  receive 
the  land  revenues,  and  to  be  responsible  only  to  the  King.31 
This  act  was  valid  only  for  one  year;  it  was  renewed  in  1512 
and  in  1514,  and  repealed  and  reenacted  in  more  systematic 

ai  Statutes,  3  Henry  VIII,  c.  23.  The  act  further  provided  that  the 
accounts  approved  by  the  General  Surveyors  should  be  engrossed  on 
parchment,  and  sent,  with  all  original  account  books  and  tallies  to  the 
Exchequer,  to  be  preserved  by  the  Clerk  of  the  Pipe.  Provisions  similar 
to  this  are  found  in  the  later  acts  relating  to  the  General  Surveyors.  The 
reason  for  this  seems  to  be  connected  with  the  assignments  or  appropri- 
ations made  by  Parliament  for  the  Household  and  Wardrobe.  These 
assignments,  which  were  under  Exchequer  supervision,  were  made  in  large 
part  upon  the  land  revenues.  Tallies  were  issued  to  the  cofferer  of  the 
Household  and  to  the  Clerk  of  the  Wardrobe  by  the  Exchequer,  directed 
to  the  receivers  of  the  land  revenues  for  payment.  Since  the  Cofferer  and 
Clerk  of  the  Wardrobe  rendered  their  accounts  of  receipts  and  expenditures 
in  the  Exchequer,  it  was  necessary  that  the  Exchequer  should  know  what 
they  had  received  upon  the  tallies  issued  to  them.  This  could  be  done 
accurately  only  if  the  accounts  of  the  receivers  of  the  land  revenues  were 
sent  to  the  Exchequer  to  be  checked  with  their  accounts.  In  practice 


74  ENGLISH  GOVERNMENT  FINANCE  [370 

form  in  1515.  The  act  of  1515  was  renewed  in  1522  and  made 
"perpetual"  in  1535.32 

But  all  the  revenues  of  King  Henry  VII  were  not  received  and 
expended  under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  General  Surveyors,  the 
Treasurer  of  the  Chamber  and  the  officials  of  the  Exchequer. 
In  the  two  most  outlying  parts  of  the  kingdom,  large  sums 
were  collected  and  spent  by  local  officers  for  the  charges  of  the 
garrisons  and  the  administration  of  the  King's  government  at 
Berwick  and  Calais.  In  1487  £2068  6s.  8d.  of  the  revenues  of 
certain  lands  in  the  north  of  England  and  of  the  customs  of 
Newcastle  were  set  aside  to  be  collected,  administered  and  spent 
by  the  Chamberlain  of  Berwick  for  the  wages  of  the  garrison 
there.  Later  the  assignment  was  increased  to  £2627  14s.  4d.  on 
the  crown  lands,  and  on  the  customs  of  Newcastle  and  Hull.33 
During  the  two  years  from  Michaelmas  1487  to  Michaelmas 
1489,  the  Chamberlain  of  Berwick  received  £4752  Os.  9d.,  and 
spent  £4338  17s.  4d.,  and  during  the  next  two  years  he  re- 
ceived £4822  8s.  13d.,  and  spent  £4343  13s.  Id.34 

At  Calais  the  customs  subsidy  on  wool  brought  from  England 
by  the  merchants  of  the  Staple  was  collected  by  officers  of  the 
Staple.  This  arrangement  had  originated  under  Edward  IV. 
He  was  in  debt  to  the  Society  of  the  Staple,  and  at  the  same 
time  the  garrison  of  the  town  of  Calais  was  disorderly,  and 
threatened  the  property  of  the  Staple,  because  their  wages 
were  not  paid  promptly  by  the  King.  In  order  to  protect  them- 
selves against  the  garrison  by  securing  prompt  payment  of  their 
wages,  and  to  recover  the  money  which  the  King  owed  them, 
the  Mayor  and  Fellowship  of  the  Staple  arranged  to  take  over 
the  collection  of  the  wool  subsidy  at  Calais,  pay  the  garrison, 
make  certain  payments  to  the  King's  judges,  sergeants  at  law, 
and  his  attorney,  and  to  the  customers  and  controllers  of  the 

the  auditors  of  the  court  of  General  Surveyors  drew  up  two  "Vewes"  of 
of  the  accounts  of  receivers.  Of  these  one  was  sent  to  the  Exchequer, 
and  one  was  preserved  by  the  General  Surveyors  (Augmentations  Office, 
Misc.  BooTcs,  313A  314,  318,  322. 

32  Statutes,  4  Henry  VIII,  c.  18;  6  Henry  VIII,  c.  24;  7  Henry  VIII, 
c.  7;  14-15  Henry  VIII,  c.  15;  27  Henry  VIII,  c.  62. 

as  Rot.  Parl,  VI,  394a,  496a. 

s* Lord  Treasurer's  Remembrancer,  Foreign  Boll,  119,  anno  5,  membrane 
E;  anno  7,  membrane  C. 


371]         THE  NEW  ORGANIZATION  OP  THE  FINANCIAL  SYSTEM  75 

wool  subsidy  of  the  port  of  London,  to  provide  for  the  convoy 
of  wools  from  England  to  Calais,  to  keep  part  of  the  revenues 
each  year  to  pay  the  King's  debt  to  themselves,  and  to  pay  the 
balance  to  the  royal  treasury.  This  arrangement  was  continued 
under  Henry  VII,  and  during  part  of  Henry  VIII  's  reign.35 
For  the  charges  of  the  garrison,  it  was  originally  provided  that 
£10,022  4s.  8d.  should  be  paid  to  the  Treasurer  of  Calais 
by  the  Staple  each  year.  This  sum  was  regularly  paid  until 
1502,  after  which  it  was  reduced  to  amounts  which  varied 
between  £5,011  and  £7,753  for  the  remaining  years  of  the 
reign.  To  the  king's  attorney,  sergeants  at  law  and  judges,  and 
to  the  London  customs-house  officers  £675  4s.  4d.  were  paid  each 
year,  and  £316  13s.  4d.  were  paid  annually  for  convoy.  The 
account  for  the  whole  sum  collected  for  the  customs  by  the 
Staple  was  rendered  at  the  Exchequer,  and  the  surplus  or  bal- 
ance, which  averaged  £4,000  a  year  after  the  reduction,  in 
1502,  of  the  amount  paid  for  the  garrison,  was  entered  among 
the  Exchequer  receipts,  and  was  paid  by  assignment  from  the 
Exchequer  to  the  Treasurer  of  the  Chamber. 

The  costs  of  governing  and  holding  Calais  were  not,  however, 
entirely  defrayed  by  the  money  paid  to  the  Treasurer  of  the  town 
by  the  Staple  from  the  proceeds  of  the  wool  subsidy.  In  addition 
to  this  he  received  rents  from  certain  lands  in  the  English  pale 
there,  certain  octroi  dues  and  the  profits  made  on  the  victuals 
sold  to  the  soldiers  of  the  garrison  by  the  government.  These 
items  amounted  to  between  £2,500  and  £3,000  a  year.,  The  ex- 
penditures of  the  Treasurer  of  Calais  were  always  well  within 
his  receipts,  so  that  he  had  an  unexpended  balance  of  from 
£500  to  £6,000  a  year,  which,  like  the  surplus  of  the  Chamber- 
lain of  Berwick  was  turned  over,  except  in  the  early  years  of  the 
reign,  directly  to  the  Treasurer  of  the  Chamber.36 

With  the  details  of  the   accounts  of  such  revenues  as  the 


t.  Part.,  VI,  55b,  268,  395a,  523b. 
se  The  balance  for  the  year  August  22,  1493,  to  August  22,  1494,  was 
£524;  for  the  year  August  22,  1506,  to  August  22,  1507,  £6382.  The 
accounts  of  the  Treasurer  of  Calais  are  found  in  Accounts,  Exch.,  Queen's 
'Remembrancer,  bundles  200,  201,  202;  and  in  Duchy  of  Lancaster,  Accounts 
Various,  bundle  2.  The  accounts  of  the  Mayor  and  Fellowship  of  the 
Staple  of  Calais  are  enrolled  in  the  Foreign  Boll,  119,  and  some  originals 
are  preserved  in  Accounts,  Exch.,  Queen's  Remembrancer,  bundle  201. 


76  ENGLISH   GOVERNMENT   FINANCE  [372 

customs  and  customs  subsidies,  and  the  old  formal  revenues 
collected  by  the  sheriffs,  and  the  expenditures  of  the  Household 
and  Wardrobe,  which  were  audited  by  the  Exchequer  of  Ac- 
count, Henry  VII  did  not  concern  himself.  But  the  state  of 
his  revenues  in  the  Exchequer  of  Receipt,  the  Treasury  of  the 
Chamber,  the  Court  of  General  Surveyors  and  the  Duchy  of 
Lancaster  he  knew  intimately  from  his  personal  examination 
of  their  account  books,  and  from  the  Declarations  which  were 
submitted  to  him  each  year  as  supreme  financial  minister.37 
Under  his  personal  view  were  brought  also  the  accounts  of  the 
Chamberlain  of  Berwick,  and  of  the  Treasurer  of  Calais.38  In 
connection  with  the  accounts  of  these  two  officials,  who  accounted 
to  the  king  personally  in  detail  for  certain  revenues  and  expend- 
itures, a  new  form  and  method  of  accounting  developed,  ap- 
plied later  especially  to  the  accounts  of  expenditures.  Here  is 
the  origin  of  the  Declared  Account,  long  most  important  in 
English  government  finance.  The  first  Declared  Account  is 
the  Status  sive  Declaratio  Compoti  of  the  Treasurer  of  Calais 
for  the  year  1493-1494.  The  Exchequer  Compotus  was  written 
on  parchment,  the  new  declaration  of  account  was  written  on 
paper ;  the  Compotus  was  a  summary  of  the  account  prepared  by 
an  Exchequer  auditor  from  a  schedule  drawn  up  by  the  account- 
ant himself,  the  new  declaration  was.  made  up  by  new  officials, 
the  King's  auditors,  from  the  accountant's  original  books;  the 
Compotus  was  presented  to  the  Barons  of  the  Exchequer  to 
secure  a  quietus  or  discharge  for  the  accountant,  while  the  declar- 
ation was  "declared"  before  the  king,  either  in  person  or  dele- 

37  In,  addition  to  the  Declaration  of  the  State  of  the   Treasury  made 
by  the  Exchequer  of  Eeceipt,  the  Declarations  of  the  General  Surveyors, 
and   the    account   boots    of    the    Treasurer    of    the    Chamber,    there    were 
Declarations  of  the  Duchy  of  Lancaster.    These  begin  in  the  year  1505-1506, 
the   same   year   in   which  the   first   preserved   Exchequer   Declaration   was 
made   (Duchy  of  Lancaster,  Accounts  Various,  23/14,   15,  16,  17).     Like 
go  many  other  account  books,  those  of  the  Eeceiver-General  of  the  Duchy, 
on  which  the  Declarations  of  the  Duchy  were  based,  were  personally  ex- 
amined and  signed  by  the  King   (Duchy  of  Lancaster,  Accounts  Various, 
6/1). 

38  The   Chamberlain    of   Berwick   ceased   to    account   in   the   Exchequer 
after  1491;   the  Treasurer  of  Calais  after  1492,  when  the  last  entry  in 
the  Foreign  Roll,  and  the  last  Compotus  of  his  accounts  in  the  Exchequer 
are  found. 


373]         THE  NEW  ORGANIZATION  OF  THE  FINANCIAL  SYSTEM  77 

gate  in  order  that  the  accountant  might  have  his  acquittance.88 
By  the  new  institutions  and  methods  which  were  developed  in 
the  course  of  his  reign,  Henry  VII  completely  broke  away  from 
the  medieval  financial  system,  and  laid  the  foundations  for  the 
more  modern  English  revenue  system,  which  was  to  be  more 
completely  perfected  by  his  immediate  successors,  who  merely 
elaborated  on  his  ideas. 


ss  For  the  reign  of  Henry  VII  the  evidence  for  the  declarations  of 
account,  or  declared  accounts  as  they  became  known  at  a  later  period, 
is  rather  scanty,  since  most  of  the  preserved  declarations  and  original 
account  books  of  the  reign  are  without  distinguishing  marks.  In  one 
case,  however,  the  account  books  of  Hugh  Conway,  Treasurer  of  Calais, 
for  the  year  1506-1507,  are  endorsed  as  delivered  to  John  Clerk  and  Robert 
Cliff,  the  "King's  auditors."  Neither  Clerk  nor  Cliff  were  Exchequer 
auditors.  The  declaration  made  from  these  books  is  signed  "examinata 
per  me,  Eobertum  Cliff."  See  Accounts,  Exch.,  Queen's  Rmembrancer, 
202/6,  7,  13,  14.  Some  of  the  preserved  declarations  are  annotated  in  a 
hand  which  may  be  the  King's,  and  one  of  them  has  the  following  note, — 
"Ic  cu  dno  Reg,  Ic  cu  J.  Heron"  (lecta  cum  domino  Rege,  lecta  cum  J. 
Heron).  Accounts,  Exch.,  Queen's  Remembrancer,  201/20.  The  method 
of  accounting  indicated  by  these  scraps  of  Jiaterial  is  exactly  the  same 
as  the  one  which  was  used  all  through  Henry  VIII  'a  reign  for  these  new 
accounts.  The  declaration  of  account  became  the  normal  way  of  account- 
ing for  all  special  funds  and  expenditures.  The  particulars  were  examined 
and  the  formal  declaration  drawn  up  in  three  copies  by  special  auditors, 
the  king's  auditors  or  auditors  of  the  prests  and  foreign  accounts.  At 
first  without  much  organization,  in  1560  they  were  constituted  the  audit 
office  and  annexed  to  the  exchequer.  The  Declaration  drawn  up  by  the 
auditors  was  presented  to  the  king  in  person  or  in  commission  for  approval 
and  acceptance.  A  signed  and  sealed  copy  was  given  to  the  accountant 
as  his  acquittance,  and  the  two  other  copies  were  preserved  by  the  auditors. 
The  later  distinction  between  Pipe  office  and  Audit  office  copies  was  not 
made. 


CHAPTER  VII 

THE  VALUE  OF  HENRY  VII 's  REVENUES 

The  construction  of  the  new  financial  system,  with  the  in- 
crease of  the  revenues  and  the  reorganization  of  the  treasury 
department  was  a  work  which  occupied  practically  the  whole  of 
Henry  VII 's  reign.  His  firs*  Parliament  began  the  great 
resumptions  and  confiscations ;  the  work  of  Empson  and  Dudley 
was  still  proceeding  at  his  death.  But  as  early  as  1490  there 
were  indications  in  the  cessation  of  short-time  loans  by  the 
government,  that  the  crown  income  was  meeting  normal  expend- 
itures, while  a  balance  of  over  £5,000  in  the  hands  of  the  Treas- 
urer of  the  Chamber  on  September  30, 1489,1  as  the  surplus  of  his 
receipts  over  his  disbursements  for  the  last  two  years  suggests 
an  even  greater  improvement.  For  this  there  is  ample  evidence 
after  the  end  of  the  French  war  in  1492.  Income  began  to 
exceed  necessary  expenditure  to  such  an  extent  that  the  king 
was  able  to  spend  large  sums  on  plate  and  jewels,  and  new 
buildings  and  palaces.2  He  was  even  beginning  to  create  a 
surplus,  as  is  evidenced  by  his  ability  to  send  £14,000  to  Ireland 
for  wages  of  soldiers  between  December  1494  and  October  1496, 
apparently  without  difficulty. 

But  it  was  only  after  the  time  of  the  Scotch  war  in  1496  that 

1  The  exact  sum  was  £5,739   17s.   2d.     Accounts,  Exch.,   Queen's  Rem- 
embrancer, 413/2,  I. 

2  In  1492  he  spent  £5,325  on  jewels,  of  which  £4,875  went  for  cloth  of 
gold,  jewels  and  pearls  for  a  "harness"  in  preparation  for  his  voyage 
to  Calais;    in   1493  he  spent  £1,813  and  in   1495,  £4,853  for  jewels  and 
plate.     In  1494  he  began  building  at  Woodstock  and  at  Shene.     Between 
January  22,  1494  and  Michaelmas   1496  he  had  spent  £5,329'  19s.  2d.  at 
Shene    and    Woodstock   and    £666    13s.    4d.    at    St.    George's   Chapel    and 
Windsor  Castle.    Add.  Mss.,  7099,  Craven  Ord's  transcript  of  the  payments 
of  the  Treasurer  of  the  Chamber.     The  original  books  for  the  years  1492 
to  1495  are  missing. 

7S 


385]  THE  VALUE  OP  HENRY  VII 's  REVENUES  79 

any  very  considerable  surplus  treasure  seems  to  have  been  ac- 
cumulated. The  king  was  unable,  for  instance,  to  meet  the 
large  initial  expenditures  of  both  the  French  and  Scotch  wars; 
and  was  compelled  to  borrow  large  sums  from  his  subjects  for 
the  purpose.3  Moreover,  not  once  before  1497  is  any  mention 
made  in  any  ambassador's  report  of  Henry  VII 's  wealth.  Such 
notices  are  found,  however,  after  the  successful  ending  of  the 
Scotch  war  in  1497.  In  September,  1497,  Raimondo  de  Soncino, 
the  Milanese  ambassador  in  London  wrote  that  the  kingdom  was 
perfectly  stable  on  account  of  the  king's  wisdom  and  "secondly 
on  account  of  the  king's  wealth,  for  I  am  informed  that  he  has 
upwards  of  six  millions  of  gold  and  it  is  said  that  he  puts  by 
annually  five  hundred  thousand  ducats. "  *  In  the  following 
month,  he  again  referred  to  Henry  VII 's  wealth  as  one  of  the 
things  which  made  him  secure  against  fortune.5  In  reading 
Soncino 's  rather  exuberant  figures,  however,  the  prothonotary  de 
Ayala's  comment  should  be  borne  in  mind,  "that  the  King  of 
England  is  less  rich  than  is  generally  said.  He  likes  to  be 
thought  rich,  because  such  a  belief  is  advantageous  to  him  in 
many  respects. ' ' 6  But  a  year  later,  even  de  Ayala  was  enthus- 
iastic about  Henry  VII 's  wealth.  "His  riches  augment  every 
day.  I  think  he  has  no  equal  in  this  respect. ' ' 7  The  evidence 
of  the  ambassadors  regarding  Henry  VII 's  increasing  wealth 

s  To  meet  the  costs  of  an  expedition  to  France  perhaps  £13,907  was 
borrowed  and  repaid.  An  example  of  the  letter  requesting  the  loan 
will  be  found  in  the  Reports  of  the  Historical  Mss.,  Commission,  Eeport 
XII,  App.  4,  Papers  of  the  Duke  of  Rutland,  p.  13.  Eecords  of  repayment 
are  found  in  the  Treasurer  of  the  Chamber 's  accounts,  Add.  Mss.,  7099.  In 
1496  privy  seals  for  loans  to  the  amount  of  £40,000  were  issued  from  the 
chancery.  Many  of  these  cancelled  privy  seals,  which  were  both  a  re- 
quest for  the  loan  and  a  receipt  for  repayment  are  preservd  in  the  Public 
Eecord  Office,  Exchequer,  Treasury  of  Receipt,  Privy  Seals  for  Loans, 
Bundles  2,  3.  Calendared  and  printed  examples  are  found  in  the  Reports  of 
the  Historical  Mss.,  Commission,  Various  Collections,  I,  p.  224,  no.  109 ;  ibid., 
Report  III,  App.,  p.  420;  B.  I.  Woodhouse,  Life  of  John  Morton,  Appendix. 

4  Venetian  Calendar,  I,  751. 

6  Milanese  Calendar,  I,  548. 

«  Spanish  Calendar,  I,  210,  a  letter  of  de  Ayala,  July  25,  1498. 

7  Spanish  Calendar,  I,  239.     Other  notices  of  Henry  VII  's  wealth  are 
found  in  Milanese  Calendar,  I,  618,  May,  1499;  Spanish  Calendar,  I,  204, 
July,  1498;  ibid.,  511,  April,  1507;  Venetian  Calendar,  I,  942,  May,  1509. 


80  ENGLISH   GOVERNMENT   FINANCE  [376 

is  borne  out  and  their  guesses  regarding  his  accumulated  treas- 
ure are  corrected  by  a  study  of  the  absolute  figures  of  the  rev- 
enues themselves. 

The  total  receipts  of  the  Exchequer,  apart  from  the  extra- 
ordinary subsidies,  benevolences  and  loans  varied  between 
£32,000  a  year  at  the  beginning  of  the  reign,  and  £48,000  a  year 
at  the  end  of  the  reign.  In  the  year  Michaelmas  1505  to  Mich- 
aelmas 1506,  an  average  year  at  the  close  of  the  reign,  the 
Exchequer  receipts  were  made  up  :8  .  .  . 

Customs  dues  and  subsides  of  wool,  wool-fels  and  leather  £27,597 

Land  revenues  and  fee  farms  6,918 

Sheriffs'  prefers,  and  issues  and  remains  of  accounts  of  sheriffs, 

bailiffs  and  eseheators  6,009 

Hanaper  of  Chancery,  fees  for  affixing  the  great  and  privy  seals  1,5119 
Fines  in  the  king's  courts  and  forfeited  bonds  988 

Goods  and  merchandise  confiscated  in  the  ports  for  breach  of 

customs  regulations  893 

Unexpended  balance,  returned  from  the  Wardrobe  assignment  or 

appropriation  514 

Arrears  of  subsidies  344 

Farm  of  the  ulnage  323 

Profits  of  the  mint  142™ 

Vacation  of  Abbeys  120 

Fines  for  license  of  concord  63 

Miscellaneous  114 

The  disbursements  of  the  Exchequer  were  distributed  over 
a  variety  of  items.  About  one-fourth  of  the  Exchequer  revenue 
was  assigned  or  appropriated  by  act  of  Parliament  for  the 
expenses  of  the  royal  household.  The  other  payments  met  the 
expenses  of  the  royal  wardrobe;  the  fees  and  annuities  of  the 
great  officials  of  state;  the  wages  of  the  yeomen  of  the  guard, 

s  Landsdowne,  Mss.,  156,  f .  124,  the  Under-Treasurer  's  declaration  of 
the  State  of  the  Treasury,  1505-1506. 

s  The  profits  of  the  Hanaper  fluctuated  greatly.  They  were  as  high 
as  £1,564  in  the  first  year  of  the  reign  and  as  low  as  £284  in  the  tenth 
year  (Accounts,  Exchequer,  Queen's  Remembrancer,  217/4;  218/2,  6,  7; 
219/1;  Accounts,  Exchequer,  Lord  Treasurer's  Remembrancer,  Foreign 
Roll,  119). 

10  The  profits  from  the  mint  were  small,  never  more  than  £200  a  year 
during  the  reign.  The  mint  accounts  are  found  in  Exchequer,  Lord  Treas- 
urer's Remembrancer,  Foreign  Roll,  119,  and  Accounts,  Exchequer,  Queen's 
Remembrancer,  bundle  295. 


377]  THE  VALUE  OF  HENRY  VII 's  REVENUES  81 

yeomen  of  the  crown,  heralds  and  sergeants-at-arms ;  the 
rewards  to  the  sheriffs  and  collectors  of  customs  and  other 
charges,  in  a  word,  the  general  expenses  of  the  administration 
of  the  government.  The  unexpended  balance,  about  one-third  of 
the  Exchequer  revenue  in  the  last  years  of  the  reign,  was  paid 
over  to  the  Treasurer  of  the  Chamber.  During  the  year  Mich- 
aelmas 1505  to  Michaelmas  1506  the  Exchequer  disbursements 
were :" 

Expenses  of  Household  £13,059 

Expenses  of  Wardrobe  1,395 

Annuities  and  fees  of  divers  lords,  knights  and  others,  officials 

of  the  state  1,354 

Wages  of  the  yeomen  of  the  guard  1,200 

Wages  of  heralds  and  pursuivants  66 

Obligations  to  ecclesiastical  persons  86 

Wages  of  the  yeomen  of  the  crown  131 

Wages  of  the  sergeants  at  arms  142 

Wages  of  the  surveyor  of  the  Ordnance  and  his  clerks  88 

Eewards  to  sheriffs  1,555 

Eewards  to  collectors  of  customs  2,762 

Other  rewards  740 

Payment  of  messengers  1 

Payments  for  special  causes,  by  the  king's  warrant  693 

Wages  for  the  Master  of  Works  and  the  expenses  of  his  office  333 

Restitution  of  desperate  tallies  263 

Fees  of  the  officers  of  the  Exchequer  of  Account  753 

Fees  of  the  officers  of  the  Exchequer  of  Receipt  480 

Fee  of  the  Keeper  of  the  Privy  Seal  365 

The   Duke   of  York,  for  keeping  the  East  and  Middle  Marches 

against  Scotland  1,000 

Wages  and  allowances  of  ambassadors  2,000 

Paid  by  assignment  of  tallies  to  the  Treasurer  of  the  Chamber  15,438 

Since  the  greater  part  of  the  new  or  increased  revenues  were 
paid,  not  at  the  Exchequer,  but  to  the  Treasurer  of  the  Chamber, 
the  increase  in  the  business  of  his  office  is  much  greater  than 
that  of  the  Exchequer.  While  the  Exchequer  revenues  increased 
by  fifty  per  cent  during  the  reign,  his  augmented  perhaps  ten 
fold  between  1487  and  1505. 

His  total  receipts  were  :12 

July  4  1487     to     September  1       1487     £  10,491 

11  Landsdowne  Mss.,  156,  f.  124. 

1 2  Accounts,  Exchequer,  Queen's  Remembrancer,  413/2,  I,  II,  III;  414/6; 
Add.  Mss.,  21480,  account  books  of  the  Treasurer  of  the  Chamber. 


82 


ENGLISH    GOVERNMENT   FINANCE 


[378 


September  1 

1487 

to 

September  26 

September    26 

1488 

to 

Michaelmas 

Michaelmas 

1489 

to 

Michaelmas 

Michaelmas 

1490 

to 

Michaelmas 

Michaelmas 

1491 

to 

August  25 

August    25 

1492 

to 

October  10 

October   10 

1493 

to 

Michaelmas 

Michaelmas 

1494 

to 

Michaelmas 

Michaelmas 

1495 

to 

Michaelmas 

Michaelmas 

1502 

to 

Michaelmas 

Michaelmas 

1503 

to 

Michaelmas 

Michaelmas 

1504 

to 

Michaelmas 

:88        10,811 
98         15,288 

90  12,942 

91  8,164 
:92    14,693 
:93    14,716 
194    31,27013 
:95    38,320 
:97  107,973 

103  96,498 

104  86,973 
.05  131,141 

Many  of  the  individual  items  which  made  up  the  receipts  of 
the  Treasurer  of  the  Chamber  and  contributed  to  the  total  in- 
crease, by  their  greater  productivity,  have  already  been  studied. 
An  analysis  of  the  receipts  of  the  Treasurer  of  the  Chamber  for 
a  single  year  will  bring  out  still  more  clearly  the  relative  im- 
portance of  each  of  these.  Further,  certain  reduplications, 
where  the  revenues  are  entered  among  both  the  Exchequer  re- 
ceipts and  the  receipts  of  the  Treasurer  of  the  Chamber  can  be 
checked,  so  that  an  accurate  total  can  be  arrived  at.  The  receipts 
of  the  year  Michaelmas  1504  to  Michaelmas  1505  were  as  fol- 
lows :14 

I.  Landed  Revenues,  Revenues  of  crown  es- 

tates and  ward's  lands  in  the  king's  hands  £32,630 
Vacation  of  bishoprics  and  abbeys,  for  the 

restitution  of  temporalities  and  licenses  of 

free  election  5,339 

Sale  of  wardships  765 

"Woodsale  from  the  king's  lands  115 

Fines  for  livery  of  lands  268 

Licenses  for  mortization  of  land  100 

Assignment  on  the  Duchy  of  Lancaster  for 

the  Prince  of  Wales'  household  666 

II.  Clerical  and  Lay  Sftbadjeo.-  Arrears  of  Sub- 

sidies ^  305 

is  In  this  year,  40,938  crowns  from  the  first  three  payments  of  the 
French  pension  were  receiveVd  by  the  Treasurer  of  the  Chamber.  French 
crowns  were  received  in  many  of  the  following  years  by  the  Treasurer, 
but  were  not  entered  into  his  account  because  they  formed  "no  perfect 
sum. ' ' 

i*  Add.  Mss.  No.  21480. 


379]  THE  VALUE   OF   HENRY  VII 's   REVENUES  83 

Clerical  subsidy  granted  in  Yorkshire  677 

Theaid  granted  by  Parliament  in  1504      25,311 

III.  CefjKin  payments  for  ambassadors,  the  king's  works,  and 
the  keeping  of  the  Scottish  marches  are  noted  among  the  Ex- 
chequer disbursements.    In  practice  the  Treasurer  of  the  Cham- 
ber advanced  the  money  for  these  purposes  to  the  men  entitled 
to  receive  it,  and  the  under-Treasurer  of  the  Exchequer  made 
repayment  to  him,  instead  of  paying  directly.    In  this  way  the 
Treasurer  of  the  Chamber  received  £3,353 

The  Treasurer  of  the  Chamber  also  advanced  ready  money 
to  the  Cofferer  of  the  Household,  averaging  about  £1,000  per 
month.  This,  being  repaid,  was  accounted  as  "receipts."  For 
the  year  there  was  thus  repaid,  and  included  in  the  income  of 
the  year  £12,728 

IV.  The  payments  from  the  Exchequer  13,273  15 
V.     Payments  by  obligations  and  recognizances 

for  causes  not  stated  21,565 
VI.     Miscellaneous   receipts,   fines   for   hunting, 

riots,  negligence  in  office  1,514 
Fines  "for  not  being  made  knights  of  the 

Bath"  1,125 

"Marriage  money"  from  the  king  of  Spain  1,000 
Repayment  to  the  king  of  money  borrowed 

from  him  900 
Payment  of  debts  owing  to  the  king  862 
Surplus  of  Berwick  685 
Surplus  of  the  Treasurer  of  Calais  and  ar- 
rears of  revenue  administered  by  him  622 

is  The  treasurer  of  the  chamber  made  no  note  of  these  large  payments 
of  the  Exchequer  balance  to  him  as  coming  from  the  Exchequer.  They 
were  all  made  by  assignment  of  tallies;  that  is  the  Exchequer  issued  the 
tallies  to  the  Treasurer  of  the  Chamber,  and  he  collected  the  money  from 
the  accountants.  With  the  aid  of  the  Exchequer  account  books,  it  is  found 
that  they  comprised  and  are  noted  in  the  books  of  the  Treasurer  of  the 
Chamber  as:- 

The  surplus  of  the  Staple  at  Calais  from  the  wool  sub- 
sidy collected  by  them,  after  the  garrison  and  other 
charges  had  been  paid  £  4,757 

Custom  dues,  chieAly  from  Southhampton,  Exeter  and 

Dartmouth  6,716 

The  profits   of  the  Hanaper  of   Chancery  1,211 

The  profits  of  the  mint  153 

The  profits  of  the  sale  of  victuals  to  the  garrison  at 

Calais  270 

The  farm  of  the  exchange  166 


84  ENGLISH    GOVERNMENT   FINANCE  [380 

Licenses  for  the  export  of  tin  and  wheat 

and  the  import  of  wine  597 

Sale  of  offices  125 

Pardon,  and  confirmation  of  liberties  to  cor- 
porations 66 

Other  miscellaneous  receipts  2,234 

The  disbursements  of  the  Treasurer  of  the  Chamber  were 
most  varied,  consisting  chiefly  of  such  payments  as  more  inti- 
mately concerned  the  king  and  his  court,  rather  than  the  civil 
administration,  as  did  the  Exchequer  payments.  The  Treasurer 
of  the  Chamber  paid  the  wages  of  servants  attached  to  the  court 
itself,  notably  the  yeomen  of  the  chamber,  the  musicians  and 
minstrels.  He  purchased  rich  cloths  and  stuffs,  perhaps  for 
purposes  outside  the  domain  of  the  wardrobe;  he  rewarded 
ambassadors,  paid  out  the  king's  weekly  alms  and  offerings  in 
church  and  provided  the  exhibitions  or  scholarships  of  the  king's 
scholars  at  Oxford.  Payments  for  these  items  constituted  the 
regular  charges  of  the  Treasurer  of  the  Chamber,  and  at  times 
when  no  great  payments  by  the  king's  special  command  were 
made,  these  charges  varied  from  £9  5s.  9d.  to  £280  3s.  Od.  a 
week.  For  the  sixth  year  of  the  reign  the  king 's  ordinary  charges 
of  this  sort,  including  the  payment  of  ' '  Espies ' '  were  only  £4,029 
6s.  79. ;  but  this  increased  as  the  reign  went  on.16 

But  the  ordinary  charges  formed  but  a  very  small  part  of  the 
total  disbursements  of  the  Treasurer  of  the  Chamber,  as  will  be 
apparent  from  a  table  showing  these  totals  :17 

Michaelmas     1495  to     Michaelmas     1496  £25,707 

"  1496  to  "  1497  73,36618 

»  1497  to  "  1498  42,302 

"  1498  to  "  1499  32,836 

"  1499  to  "  •       1500  46,183 

"  1500  to  "  1501  52,934 

"  1501  to  "  1502  81,252 

16  As  an  example  of  the  rate  of  increase  of  these  ordinary  charges, 
the  wages  of  servants  and  musicians  of  the  court  can  be  taken.  In  the 
sixth  year,  just  instanced,  these  wages  were  £1,296;  but  in  the  years  after 
1505,  they  had  been  increased  to  £1,884  a  year. 

"  Accounts,  Exchequer,  Queen's  Remembrancer,  414/6;  414/16;  Add. 
Mss.,  No.  21480. 

isTliis  is  the  year  of  the  Scotch  war,  and  the  amount  includes  the  war 
expenditures. 


381]  THE  VALUE   OF   HENRY   VII 's   REVENUES  85 

"  1502     to  "  1503  90,327 

"  150a     to  "  1504  79,408 

"  1504     to  "  1505  169,00319 

"  1505     to  "  1506  124,358 

"  1506     to  "  1507  66,046 

"  1507     to  "  1508  54,657 

"  1508     to  "  1509  132,643 

A  part  of  these  great  sums  represents  money  paid  for  the 
wages  of  soldiers  in  Ireland  and  against  Scotland;  for 
the  upkeep  of  the  navy  and  the  erection  of  new  palaces  and 
buildings  for  the  king's  use.  The  remainder  may  be  considered 
as  invested  in  jewels  and  in  loans.  Henry  VII  purchased 
jewels  and  plate  on  a  very  lavish  scale,  in  all  probability  as 
a  form  of  saving,  just  as  Indian  princes  of  the  present  day  do. 
Between  December  24,  1491  and  the  end  of  the  reign,  at  least 
£128,441  was  spent  for  jewels;  while  the  crowns  received  in 
payment  of  the  French  pension  were  sometimes  at  least  used 
for  a  similar  purpose.20  Much  money  was  also  invested  in 
loans.  The  Archduke  Philip  and  his  son  Charles  borrowed  a 
total  of  at  least  £260,000."  A  very  great  deal  was  lent  to  Eng- 
lish merchants  and  to  Italian  merchants  in  England.  Such 
loans  were  unimportant  and  small  before  1505,  not  above  £3,400 
a  year;  but  from  Michaelmas  1505  to  Michaelmas  1509  £87,600 
were  loaned  in  this  way.22  The  loan  was  generally  secured  by 
English  noblemen,  and  the  bond  provided  that  if  the  loan  were 
not  repaid  promptly  on  two  months'  notice,  a  penalty  should 
be  paid.  Though  no  interest  was  exacted,  it  was  often  provided 
that  the  loan  which  had  been  made  in  silver  should  be  repaid 
in  gold.  But  more  generally  the  borrower  bound  himself  to 
import  into  England  enough  goods  to  pi-y  a  certain  amount  in 
customs  dues,  each  year  as  long  as  the  loan  stood.23 

19  In  this  year  £138,000  were  loaned  to  the  ' '  Prince  of  Spain. ' ' 

20  On   one    occasion   the   gold   crowns   were    turned   over   to   the   king's 
goldsmith  to  be  made  into  a  gold  chain;  and  on  another  they  were  "sent 
to  Paris  in  France  to  buy  plate  for  the  king's  household."     (Add.  Mss., 
No.   21480   f.    180;    Accounts,   Exchequer,   Queen's   Remembrancer,   414/6, 
March  1497).  ^ 

21  Add.    Mss.,    21480 ;    Exchequer,    Treasury    of    Receipt,    Miscellaneous 
Books,  214. 

22  Accounts,    Exchequer,    Queen's    'Remembrancer,    415/3,    414/16;    Ex- 
chequer, Treasury  of  Receipt,  Miscellaneous  Books,  214. 

23  This  practice  was  followed   by   Henry   VIII   in   the   early   years   of 
his  reign,  on  an  even  larger  scale. 


86  ENGLISH   GOVERNMENT   FINANCE  [382 

In  addition  to  the  revenues  received  and  expended  by  the 
Exchequer  and  the  Treasurer  of  the  Chamber,  there  were  cer- 
tain not  unimportant  sums  collected  and  expended  locally,  in 
the  most  outlying  parts  of  the  kingdom,  by  the  Chamberlain  of 
Berwick  and  the  Treasurer  of  Calais  for  the  charges  of  the 
governmentl  and  garrisons  there.  At  Berwick  these  sums 
averaged  something  over  £2,000  a  year,  collected  from  land 
rents  and  the  customs  dues  of  Newcastle  and  Hull.  At  Calais, 
the  Treasurer  of  Calais  received  from  the  Society  of  the  Staple 
for  the  wool  subsidy  and  from  the  rents  of  certain  lands  in  the 
town,  the  octroi  dues  and  the  profits  made  on  the  victuals  sold 
to  the  garrison,  an  average  of  £13,200  a  year.  His  expenditures 
were  always  well  within  his  receipts,  by  sums  ranging  from 
£524  in  1492  to  £6,382  in  1507.24  The  unexpended  balance  was 
turned  over  to  the  Treasurer  of  the  Chamber  and  has  already 
been  included  in  the  receipts  of  his  office,  but  account  must 
be  taken  of  the  sums  expended  at  Berwick  and  Calais  in  totals 
of  income  and  disbursements  of  the  government. 

During  the  first  few  years  of  the  reign  the  total  receipts 
of  the  crown  from  all  regularly  recurring  sources,  received  at 
the  Exchequer,  Berwick  and  Calais  were  about  £52,000  a  year, 
and  the  expenditures  were  so  much  greater  that  it  was  neces- 
sary to  resort  to  subsidies  and  loans.  During  the  last  five 
vgays  of  the  reign,  the  receipts  averaged  £142,000  a  year,  re- 
jiie»p-at  the  Exchequer,  the  Treasury  of  the  Chamber,  Berwick 
and  Calais,  all  duplications  eliminated.  The  entire  expenditures, 
including  the  heavy  investments  in  loans  and  jewels  averaged 
£138,000  a  year. 

At  Henry  VII 's  death  it  was  believed  that  as  a  result  of  his 
financial  measures  £1,800,000  in  gold  and  silver  was  found  in 
his  coffers.25  Falier,  the  Venetian  ambassador  reporting  to  the 
Venetian  senate  in  1531  spoke  of  the  treasure  of  Henry  VII 

24  The  accounts  of  the  Chamberlain  of  Berwick  and  of  the  Treasurer  of 
Calais  are  enrolled  in  the  Foreign  Eoll   (Exch.,  Lord  Treasurer's  Remem- 
brancer, Foreign  Boll,  119)    and  are  found  in  the   original   in   accounts, 
Exch.,   Queen's  Eemembrancer,   bunjjes   200,    201,   202    and  in  Duchy   of 
Lancaster,  Accounts  Various,  bundle  2. 

25  Bacon,  Henry  VII,  210.     Bacon,  it  is  to  be  noted  gives  the  statement 
cautiously,  on  the  authority  of  "tradition." 


383]  THE   VALUE   OF   HENRY  VII  'S   REVENUES  87 

as  six  millions  of  gold,  that  is,  about  £1,300,000.28  Sanuto,  com- 
menting on  Henry  VII  's  death  wrote  in  his  diary  that  ' '  he  had 
accumulated  so  much  gold  that  he  is  supposed  to  have  more 
than  well  nigh  all  the  other  kings  of  Christendom. ' ' 27  That 
Henry  VII  had  accumulated  a  surplus,  which  if  not  as  great, 
was  comparable  to  that  credited  to  him  by  report,  is  shown  by 
Henry  VXITs  lavish  expenditure  of  his  father's  savings  in  the 
first  period  of  his  reign.  But  that  this  surplus  was  in  the  form 
of  gold  stored  up  in  great  chests  is  contrary  to  all  evidence. 
The  new  revenues,  and  the  unexpended  balances  of  the  Ex- 
chequer, of  the  Treasurer  of  Calais,  of  the  Society  of  the  Staple 
and  of  the  Chamberlain  of  Berwick,  together  with  the  French 
pensions  and  the  later  subsidies  were  turned  over  to  the  Treas- 
urer of  the  Chamber.  His  disbursements  were  only  slightly 
less  than  his  receipts  in  all  the  years  for  which  there  is  a  record 
of  both,  and  the  same  was  probably  true  in  other  years.  As  late 
as  1505  he  had  on  hand  in  money,  as  the  excess  of  receipts  over 
expenditures  up  to  that  time,  only  £22,729.28  Among  his  dis- 
bursements are  included  no  large  sums  of  money  turned  over 
to  the  king  to  be  stored  up  by  him  in  his  private  coffers.  On 
the '  other  hand,  a  great  proportion  of  the  Treasurer  of  the 
Chamber's  disbursements  had  been  for  jewels,  plate  and  loans, 
while  great  sums  were  owing  to  the  crown  for  many  causes  in  the 
form  of  obligations  and  recognizances.  It  was  these  jewels,  plate 
and  bonds  of  various  sorts  which  made  up  the  bulk  of  the 
wealth  left  by  Henry  VII  to  his  son. 


26  Venetian  Calendar,  IV,  694. 

27  Venetian  Calendar,  I,  942,  Sanuto 's  note  on  the  death  of  Henry  VII. 

28  Accounts,    Exchequer,    Queen's    Remembrancer,    413/2,    III,    f.    120. 
The  note  is  made  at  the  close  of  business  for  the  year  ending  Michaelmas 
1505. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

WOLSEY  AND  NATIONAL  FINANCE 

With  the  customs,  and  the  customs  subsidies  of  tonnage  and 
poundage  and  of  wool,  wool  fells  and  leather  granted  to  Henry 
VIII  in  his  first  Parliament  for  life,  the  vacations  of  bishoprics, 
marriages  and  wardships  and  the  income  from  the  crown  lands, 
together  with  the  wealth  inherited  from  his  father,  Henry  VIII 
was  well  fitted  to  meet  financial  demands  made  upon  him. 

The  ordinary  payments  of  the  Treasurer  of  the  Chamber 
continued  to  be  much  the  same  as  they  had  been  during  the 
last  years  of  Henry  VII 's  reign.  The  extraordinary  payments 
which  Henry  VII  had  ordered  each  year  for  buildings,  loans 
and  the  purchase  of  jewels  almost  ceased ;  so  that  the  disburse- 
ments of  John  Heron  actually  decreased  to  £156,000  for  the  first 
three  years  of  the  reign.1  This  sum  included  the  expenses  of 
the  father's  funeral,  and  the  son's  coronation,  and  even  £37,000 
paid  to  the  old  king's  executors  for  carrying  out  his  will.  A 
close  study  of  the  Treasurer  of  the  Chamber's  payments  for  a 
greater  number  of  years  gives  several  indications  that  the  fru- 
gality which  marked  Henry  VII 's  court  gradually  gave  way 
to  slightly  greater  luxuriousness.  This  is  seen  for  example  in 
the  increase  in  the  number  of  servants  attached  to  the  court. 
At  the  very  beginning  of  the  new  reign,  the  wages  of  the  royal 
musicians,  minstrels,  yeomen  of  the  chamber  and  falconers  came 
to  £2,500  a  year.  The  employment  of  additional  servants  and  the 
institution  of  the  king's  spears  of  honor,  increased  the  wage 
charge  to  over  £5,000  a  year,  early  in  1510.  Cloth  of  gold, 
purple  velvet,  russet  and  "tylsent"  satin,  rich  sables  and  other 
furs,  gold  embroidery,  spangles  and  beads  were  purchased  from 
Italian  merchants  in  much  larger  quantities  than  had  ever  been 

i  Letters  and  Papers,  II,  pp.  1441-1480,  book  of  the  Treasurer  of  the 
Chamber,  April  22,  1509  to  January  1,  1512. 

88 


401]  WOLSEY  AND  NATIONAL  FINANCE  89 

the  case  in  Henry  VII 's  time.  The  wages  and  diets  of  ambas- 
sadors and  the  number  of  embassies  sent  abroad  showed  a  con- 
siderable increase.  Before  1509,  the  yearly  costs  of  the  household 
scarcely  exceeded  the  £13,059  assigned  for  that  purpose  by 
Parliament.2  Henry  VIII  's  first  Parliament  increased  the  house- 
hold assignment  to  £19,394.3  For  a  few  years  this  sum  was 
more  than  sufficient  to  cover  the  household  expenses,  which  com- 
prised the  costs  of  food  for  the  tables  of  the  king  and  court, 
and  the  wages  of  the  cooks  and  other  servants,  and  officials  of 
the  household.  During  the  first  five  years  of  the  reign,  more 
than  £3,000  of  this  assignment  was  returned  each  year  to  the 
Exchequer  unspent;  then  for  a  few  years,  the  expenditures 
about  equalled  the  assignment.  In  the  year  1520-1521  the  as- 
signment was  no  longer  large  enough,  and  the  Treasurer  of  the 
Chamber  began  to  contribute  augmenting  sums  to  make  up 
the  deficit.4  This  may  have  been  due  in  part  to  the  rise  in  prices ; 
but  it  was  chiefly  due  during  the  earlier  part  of  the  reign,  to  the 
increase  in  the  number  of  servants  and  officials  who  lived  at 
the  court,  and  were  fed  in  the  household.  The  rise  in  prices  did 
not  begin  seriously  to  affect  the  royal  household  until  the  end  of 
the  decade  of  the  1530 's,  when  the  expenditures  rose  from  less 
than  £25,000  a  year  in  1538-1539  and  previous  years,  to  £45,700 
a  year  in  1545-1546.5  "Wardrobe  expenditures  also  increased. 

Concurrently  with  the  increased  expenditures  for  ordinary 
purposes  there  was  a  decrease  in  receipts.  In  the  Exchequer, 
the  customs  revenues  showed  a  slight  dimunition  after  1516. 
In  the  office  of  the  Treasurer  of  the  Chamber,  £2,535  a  year  was 
lost  by  the  restoration  of  lands  by  act  of  Parliament,  to  their 
former  owners,  and  £7,585  by  grants  of  land  by  the  king  by 
letters  patent  to  his  favorites.  These  losses,  together  with  the 
increased  assignments  for  the  household  on  the  royal  lands, 
and  new  fees,  wages  and  annuities,  rendered  the  clear  yearly 
land  revenues  payable  to  the  Treasurer  of  the  Chamber  £24,719 
smaller  in  1515  than  they  had  been  in  1508,6  and  reduced  the 
income  received  by  the  Treasurer  of  the  Chamber  from  the  lands 

zExch.  L.  T.  E.,  Wardrobe  Enrolled  Accounts,  roll  8,  membranes  1-26. 

s  Statutes  of  the  Realm,  1  Henry  VIII,  c.  16. 

*Exch.  L.  T.  E.,  Wardrobe  Enrolled  Accounts,  roll  8,  membrane  32  b.  ff. 

5  Ibid.,  membranes  43-47  inc. 

e  Mentals  and  Surveys,  no.  837. 


90 


ENGLISH   GOVERNMENT   FINANCE 


[386 


and  revenues  in  the  survey  of  the  General  Surveyors  and  the 
Duchy  of  Lancaster  to  £16,367  a  year.7 

The  decreases  in  revenue  through  the  decline  in  the  customs, 
and  the  alienations  of  the  crown  lands,  with  the  increase  in  ex- 
penditures, especially  in  the  household,  were  important.  On  the 
other  hand,  Henry  VII 's  revenues  had  far  exceeded  his  real 
expenditures,  and  as  the  increases  in  expenditure  made  by  Henry 
VIII  were  comparatively  small,  and  in  no  way  show  undue  lux- 
ury or  extravagance  on  the  part  of  the  king  or  court,  it  seems 
that  the  crown  resources,  the  yearly  revenue  and  the  surplus 
left  by  Henry  VII  would  have  been  sufficient  for  many  years 
to  meet  the  needs  of  the  government,  had  no  extraordinary 
drains  been  made  upon  them. 

In  view  of  this  fact  a  brief  analysis  of  the  expenditures  of  the 
Treasurer  of  the  Chamber  during  the  early  years  of  the  reign 
is  enlightening. 


1509 
1510 
1511 
1512 
1513 

1514 
1515 
1516 

1517 


£  65,097 

26,725 

64,157 

269,564 

699,714 

155,757 

74,006 

106,429 

72,359 


1518  50,614 

1519  52,428 

1520  86,030 

7  Eot.  Beg.  14  B.  XI. 
mas  1515. 

s  Letters  and  Papers, 


PH.  « 


«2   =0 

•H      >H 


sun 

£     1,231 

1,775 

1,509 

181,468 

632,322  +  10,040 
crowns 
92,000 
10,000 
16,538 

60 
200 


£14,000  lent  to  the 
Emperor 


38,500     subsidy    to 

the  Emperor 
13,333     loaned     to 
Charles  V 


This  is  an  account  for  the  year  ending  Michael- 
II, pp.   1441-1480;   ibid,,  III,  2750;    Add.   MBS., 


21481  and  Exch.t  Treasury  Receipt,  Misc.  BooTcs,  215. 


387]  WOLSEY  AND  NATIONAL  FINANCE  91 

This  table  shows  how  insignificant  were  all  the  ordinary  pay- 
ments—  not  to  speak  of  increases  in  those  payments  —  of  the 
most  important  financial  official  of  the  government  compared 
with  expenditures  for  war  and  foreign  affairs.  From  the  be- 
ginning of  his  reign,  Henry  VIII  was  eager  to  play  an  im- 
portant part  in  the  politics  of  Europe.  Already  in  November 
1511  he  was  at  war  with  France  as  the  paladin  of  the  church, 
and  the  ally  of  Ferdinand  of  Aragon  in  causes  in  which  England 
had  no  interest.9  It  was  by  his  active  foreign  policy  and  his 
participation  in  two  wars  with  France10  which  were  not  thrust 
upon  him,  but  which  he  espoused  with  the  enthusiasm  of  a  reck- 
less boy,  that  the  financial  situation  was  first  made  acute,  and  the 
revenue  system  as  perfected  by  Henry  VII  rendered  inadequate. 

In  the  three  and  one-half  years  between  the  spring  of  1511, 
when  a  small  expeditionary  force  was  sent  to  Guelderland  and 
the  fall  of  1514  £892,000  had  been  paid  for  the  wages  and  pro- 
visioning of  the  army,  and  navy  and  the  purchase  of  ordnance 
and  military  stores.11  Aids  and  subsidies  to  the  Emperor  took 
32,000  golden  florins  in  1512,  and  at  least  £14,000  in  1513.  After 
the  accession  of  Francis  I  to  the  French  throne,  Wolsey  continued 
these  subsidies  to  the  imperial  cause,  as  an  effective  means  of 
checking  the  pretensions  of  the  French  king,  and  of  quieting 

e Fisher,  Political  History  of  England,  1485-1547,  170-171,  "Henry  had 
no  direct  interest  either  in  Italy  or  in  Navarre;  and  it  was  nothing  to 
England  that  a  papal  legate  should  rule  in  Bologna,  .  .  But  from  the 
first  Henry  had  been  jealous  of  the  French  victories.  .  .  The  young 
theologian  was  on  his  mettle. ' ' 

10  The  first  war  with  France  continued  from  1511  to  1514,  and  the 
second  war  with  France  from  1522  to  1525. 

"  For  the  expedition  of  the  Marquis  of  Dorset  to  Guienne,  of  10,000 
men  assisted  by  3,070  men  in  18  ships  under  Lord  Howard,  £173,057  was 
appropriated;  of  which  £34,394  was  not  expended  (Letters  and  Papers,  I, 
3496,  3762).  The  expeditions  of  1513  against  France  and  Scotland  re- 
quired between  November  1,  1512  and  December  31,  1513,  £607,000  for  the 
army  to  France,  £16,500  for  the  army  against  Scotland,  £10,000  for  ord- 
nance and  £28,500  for  the  purchase  of  ships  (Letters  and  Papers,  II,  pp. 
1441-1480;  Exch.,  Queen's  Remembrancer,  56/26-27;  Letters  and  Papers,  I, 
4533 ;  II,  54,  254,  2123 ;  IV,  5724 ;  Exch.,  Treasury  of  Bcceipt,  Misc.  Books, 
2;  State  Papers,  Henry  VIII  §  5,  114-120).  The  preparations  for  the  year 
1514  and  the  payment  of  the  bills  of  the  past  year  took  another  £92,000 
(Letters  and  papers,  pp.  1463-1466). 


92  ENGLISH  GOVERNMENT  FINANCE  [388 

the  war  spirit  at  home.12  In  the  form  of  payments  to  Swiss 
mercenaries,  and  of  loans  to  Maximilian  and  his  grandson, 
Charles,  probably  £80,000  was  advanced  in  1515  and  1516.13  Fat- 
uously enough,  too,  Henry  VIII  had  insisted  in  the  treaty  of  1514 
upon  the  retention  of  Tournai  in  France,  conquered  by  himself 
in  1513 ;  and  Tournai  absorbed  £40,000  a  year  every  year  be- 
tween 1514  and  1518,  when  Wolsey  surrendered  the  town  to 
Francis  I." 

After  the  shameful  failure  of  Dorset's  expedition  to  Guienne 
in  1512,  Wolsey  took  personal  charge  of  the  direction  of  the 
war,  including  its  finances.  The  money  appropriated  to  war 
purposes  was  turned  over  by  the  Treasurer  of  the  Chamber  to 
John  Daunce,  John  Dawtry  and  other  treasurers  of  war.  They 
came  to  Wolsey  for  instructions  how  to  act,15  and  paid  out  money 
on  his  warrants,  which  he  issued  for  the  payment  of  bills  after 
he  had  personally  examined  them  and  found  them  correct.18 
While  thus  carefully  watching  expenditure,  the  problem  of  ob- 
taining revenues  received  his  careful  attention,  as  memoranda 
in  his  hand  show.17  His  activity  drew  from  Bishop  Fox,  at  the 
time  of  Fox's  resignation  from  the  council  in  1516  the  tribute 
"more  diligence  and  labor  for  the  king's  rights,  duties  and 
profits  .  .  be  in  you  than  ever  I  see  in  times  past  in  any 
other."18 

12  Brown,  Dispatches,  I,  100,  105,  110,  154,  155;  Venetian  Calendar,  II, 
706. 

is  Letters  and  Papers,  II,  2404.  This  is  Wolsey 's  own  estimate  of  the 
sum. 

i*  The  garrison  required  1500  men,  at  a  cost  of  £21,120  a  year  (Letters 
and  Papers,  II,  1122;  p.  1513;  4429).  The  repair  of  the  fortifications  took 
from  £17,968  to  £20,298  a  year  (Letters  and  Papers,  II,  3065;  III,  153; 
II,  4041;  4429;  II,  App.  45). 

!5  Letters  and  Papers,  I,  5755. 

18  Many  of  Wolsey 's  warrants  are  found  in  Exch.,  Queen's  Remembrancer, 
56/10.  A  typical  one  is  written  on  the  bill  itself  — ' '  Fellow  Master 
Daunce,  the  king's  pleasure  is  that  ye  content  and  pay  the  parcells  above 
written  to  Gunston  or  to  the  bringer  therof,  T.  Lincoln."  (Exch,  Q.  It. 
56/10  206).  See  also  Letters  and  Papers,  I,  5758,  5764,  5776,  5778; 
State  Papers,  Henry  VIII,  §  27,  p.  78;  Accounts,  Exch.,  Q.  B.,  58/7, 
56/14. 

IT Letters  and  Papers,  I,  3884. 

is  Letters  and  Papers,  II,  1814. 


389]  WOLSEY  AND  NATIONAL  FINANCE  93 

^ 

The  nation  in  Parliament  was  asked  to  contribute  its  share 
of  the  war  expenses,  which  it  did  in  three  fifteenths  and  tenths 
and  a  poll  tax  of  1512,  and  the  unsatisfactory  grants  of  1514 
and  1515.19  The  nation  paid  these  taxes  "unwillingly  with 
extreme  complaint ; "  20  but  even  so,  their  total  yield  was  less 
than  a  third  of  the  war  and  post  war  charges.  Of  these  the 
greatest  part  was  paid  from  the  King's  inherited  wealth,  upon 
which  such  drains  were  made  that  it  seems  to  have  been  entirely 
used  up  in  the  process.21  So  depleted  were  the  funds  in  the 
hands  of  the  Treasurer  of  the  Chamber  who  was  keeper  of  the 
surplus,  that  in  1521,  Mr.  Myklowe,  then  Treasurer  of  the 
Chamber  was  reported  as  being  ' '  compelled  to  borrow  money  for 
his  servants '  wages. ' ' 22 

With  the  exhaustion  of  the  surplus,  the  second  war  with 
France  was  begun  in  1522  under  more  unfavorable  circumstances 
than  the  first.  As  there  was  no  money  in  the  king's  coffers 
to  pay  its  charges,  the  nation  was  called  upon  to  meet  them  in 
their  entirety.  The  fact  that  Parliamentary  taxation  was  a 
slow  method  of  raising  funds  which  were  needed  immediately, 
and  not  very  productive  at  best,  probably  determined  "Wolsey 
to  secure  the  funds  necessary  for  the  preliminary  expenses,  by 
resorting  to  forced  loans.  In  June,  1522,  the  king  sent  to  the 
city  of  London  to  borrow  £20,000.  "The  mayor  sent  for  none 
but  men  of  substance;  Howbeit  the  crafts  sold  much  of  their 
plate,  the  sum  was  paid,"  and  the  king  and  the  Cardinal  prom- 

19  In  February,  1512,  2  fifteenths  and  tenths  were  granted  (Statutes  of 
the  Eealm,  3  Henry  VIII,  c.  22) ;   in  November,  1512,  one  fifteenth  and 
tenth  and  a  poll  tax   (Statutes  of  the  Eealm,  4  Henry  VIII,  c.  19);  in 
1514  a  subsidy  of  £160,000  was  voted   (Statutes  of  the  Eealm,  5  Henry 
VIII,  c.f  7) ;  and  because  of  the  failure  of  this,  a  subsidy  of  £110,000  was 
granted  in  February,  1515  (Statutes  of  the  Eealm,  6  Henry  VIII,  c.  26). 
This  too  was  unsatisfactory;   and  in  November,  1515,  a  second  levy  was 
authorized  and  a  fifteenth  and  tenth  granted   (Statutes  of  the  Eealm,  7 
Henry  VIII,  c.  9).     The  convocation  of  Canterbury  granted  four  tenths  in 
February,  1512,  and  the  convocation  of  York,  three  tenths  (Wilkins,  Concilia, 
III,  652,  657). 

20  Venetian  Calendar,  II,  456,  798 ;  Brown,  Dispatches,  I,  320. 

21  This  is  asserted  in  Falier  's  report  to  the  Venetian  Senate,  Venetian 
Calendar,  IV,  694. 

22 Letters   and  Papers,   III,   1650,   Eichard   Pace,   the  king's  secretary 
to  Wolsey. 


94  ENGLISH   GOVERNMENT   FINANCE  [390 

ised  repayment.23  In  August  commissioners  were  authorized  to 
assess  loans  in  all  the  counties  in  England  in  a  way  which  showed 
the  levy  in  its  true  character  of  a  tax  —  rather  than  a  loan. 
During  1522  and  1523  £352,231  were  raised  by  forced  loans,24 
but  this  amount  had  fallen  £42,00025  short  of  the  money  required 
for  the  military  undertakings,  the  fruitless  expedition  of  the 
Earl  of  Surrey  into  Picardy  in  1522,  and  the  invasion  of  France 
by  the  Duke  of  Suffolk,  and  the  raids  on  the  Scotch  border 
under  Surrey  in  1523. 

Meanwhile,  the  convocations  of  York  and  Canterbury  had  met 
in  the  spring  of  1523,  and  made  the  unprecedented  grant  of  one- 
half  the  value  of  one  year's  income  of  all  benifices  to  be  paid 
in  five  years.26  Parliament  had  assembled  too.  For  the  purposes 
of  the  loan  of  1522  "Wolsey  had  had  a  careful  assessment  of  men's 
wealth  made.  He  now  asked  for  a  grant  of  £800,000  which  would 
be  realized,  on  the  basis  of  the  assessment  of  1522  by  a  tax  of 
four  shillings  in  the  pound.  After  the  bitterest  debate,  and 
a  threatening  visit  by  Wolsey  in  state  to  the  Commons'  House, 
a  smaller  subsidy  than  was  asked,  was  granted.  In  the  country 
at  large  there  were  mutterings  against  the  grant  as  soon  as  it 
was  known,  and  resentment  when  the  commissioners  came  to 
levy  the  tax.27  Since  the  first  payment  of  the  new  tax  was  not 
due  until  the  spring  of  1524  and  the  new  forced  loans  in  antici- 
pation of  the  subsidy,  in  the  autumn  of  1523  (when  the  treasury 
was  empty)28  were  a  failure,  England  abstained  from  active 
operations  during  1524,  and  contented  herself  with  subsidizing 
the  Duke  of  Bourbon  with  a  second  100,000  crowns.29 

During  the  past  few  years  the  tax-paying  classes  of  the  nation 

23  Hall,  Chronicle,  I,  258. 

24  Letters  and  Papers,  IV,  214,  417.     See  also  Letters  and  Papers,  IV, 
App.  37  and  III,  2483. 

26  This  sum  was  paid  out  by  the  Treasurer  of  the  Chamber  for  war 
purposes  to  make  good  the  deficits  (Letters  and  Papers,  III,  2750). 

26  Wilkins.  Concilia,  III,  698,  699. 

27  Letters  and  Papers,  III,  3082;  IV,  377;  IV,  App.  6. 

28  Letters  and  Papers,  III,  3433,  a  letter  from  Wolsey  to  Henry  VIII. 
Wolsey  needed  £10,000  to  complete  the  next  payment  to  Suffolk's  army 
in  France.     "He  has  used  all  pains  to  bring  in  whatsoever  is  leviable  that 
more  cannot  be  done. ' ' 

29  Letters   and   Papers,   IV,    365,    510.      The    first   100,000    crowns   had 
been  given  him  in  1523,  Letters  and  Papers,  III,  3288,  3307;  IV,  510. 


391]  WOLSEY  AND  NATIONAL  FINANCE  95 

had  contributed  more  largely  than  ever  before  to  the  support 
of  the  state  and  its  enterprises,  especially  in  the  loans  of  1522 
and  1523.  They  had  met  practically  the  entire  expenses  of  the 
campaigns  of  1522  and  1523,  and  already  in  the  Parliament  of 
1523  their  discontent  showed  itself  in  opposition  to  further  aid 
to  the  king.  Their  opposition  hardened,  until  it  became  refusal, 
in  1525,  when  the  battle  of  Pavia  and  the  capture  of  Francis  I 
by  the  Emperor  led  Henry  VIII  to  decide  to  invade  France  and 
recover  his  crown  of  France.30 

Pavia  was  fought  in  February,  1525.  If  advantage  were  to 
be  taken  of  it,  money  was  necessary  at  once.  Commissioners  were 
sent  out  in  March  and  April,  1525,  to  raise  an  Amicable  Grant 
from  the  laity  and  clergy,  "to  conserve  the  honor  of  the  realm 
and  recover  the  crown  of  France, ' '  the  king  intending  a  personal 
invasion.31  Wolsey  was  chief  commissioner  to  London.  The 
London  men  refused  to  pay  even  though  Wolsey  threatened  that 
resistance  might  cost  some  of  them  their  heads.32  At  Reading 
the  people  refused  one  sixth  of  their  property  (the  amount 
asked  for)  but  granted  one  twelfth,  to  Wolsey 's  anger.33  The 
Bishop  of  Lincoln  found  that  the  priests  of  his  diocese  alleged 
poverty,  though  willing  to  satisfy  the  king  to  the  best  of  their 
ability,  while  the  landlords  of  the  district  claimed  they  could 
get  no  rent  from  their  farmers.34  In  Essex,  the  Earl  of  Essex 
assembled  the  townships  before  him,  but  could  not  induce  them 
to  grant  any  money,  as  they  said  they  had  not  even  enough  to 
pay  the  subsidy.  Just  a  few  days  before  this,  a  thousand  per- 
sons had  assembled  in  the  borders  of  Suffolk,  near  the  town  in 
which  the  Earl  was  holding  his  sessions;  which  caused  even 
those  who  would  have  been  willing  to  pay,  to  refuse  to  do  so, 
for  fear  of  being  hewn  to  pieces.35  In  Kent,  Archbishop  Warham 
warned  Wolsey  when  the  commissions  were  first  sent  out  that  it 
would  be  hard  to  raise  money  at  this  time,  especially  as  the 

so  Letters  and  Papers,  IV,  1212,   Henry's  assertion  of  his  intentions. 

si  Letters  and  Papers,  IV,  1200,  1284,  App.  34. 

32  Hall,  Chronicles,  II,  36. 

S3  Hall,  Chroniclefill,  36. 

34  Letters  and  Papers,  IV,  1330,  a  letter  to  the  Bishop  of  Lincoln, 
May  12,  1525. 

35/&id.,  IV,  1321,  a  letter  of  the  Earl  of  Essex  to  Wolsey,  May  9, 
1525. 


96  ENGLISH   GOVERNMENT   FINANCE  [392 

other  parliamentary  grants  were  now  payable,  and  reported  to 
him  the  dissatisfaction  prevailing  among  the  people.  They  spoke 
"  'cursedly'  saying  that  they  shall  never  have  rest  of  payments 
so  long  as  some  liveth. "  Some  of  the  commissioners  merely 
announced  the  king 's  command  without  pressing  it ;  the  promise 
that  the  money  would  be  repaid  was  discredited  because  the 
promise  made  in  regard  to  the  former  loan  had  never  been  kept ; 
the  people  were  sorry  at  the  captivity  of  Francis  I  and  no  longer 
desired  the  conquest  of  France,  since  if  the  king  won  France 
he  would  be  obliged  to  spend  his  time  and  his  revenues  there; 
and  finally  all  the  sums  (so  said  the  people)  already  spent  in 
France  had  not  gained  the  king  more  land  in  it  than  his  father 
had,  "which  lacked  no  wisdom  or  riches  to  win  the  kingdom 
of  France  if  he  had  thought  it  expedient."  It  seems  that  even 
where  there  was  a  willingness  to  contribute  there  was  lack  of 
money,  and  poverty,  or  fear  of  ' '  the  multitude  who  persecute  all 
who  comply. ' ' 36  "Warham  and  his  fellow  commissioners  did 
not  show  themselves  at  any  time  over  enthusiastic  for  the  loan; 
they  do  not  seem  to  have  pressed  for  payment  and  they  constantly 
excused  the  people  to  Henry  VIII  and  to  Wolsey,  saying  that 
they  seemed  minded  to  accomplish  their  demands  but  could  not, 
because  there  was  great  poverty.87  In  Norfolk  the  mayor  of  Nor- 
wich answered  the  Duke  of  Norfolk  that  although  an  invasion 
of  France  would  be  timely,  they  could  not  raise  the  money  re- 
quired, but  they  offered  their  plate.  The  Duke  wrote  that  though 
the  Norwich  people  behaved  well  there  would  be  great  difficulty 

as  Letters  and  Papers,  IV,  1243,  1266,  1267,  1305,  1306,  1311,  letters 
of  Warham  and  other  Kentish  commissioners. 

87  Ibid.  It  is  not  known  how  much  money  was  in  circulation  at  this 
time  in  England  among  the  people,  but  the  per  capita  circulation  was 
probably  comparatively  small,  especially  in  the  country.  A  good  bit  of 
the  opposition  to  taxes  and  other  payments  to  the  government  especially 
in  1525  was  due  to  the  real  lack  of  money  among  the  people.  Cromwell, 
in  1523,  estimated  the  coin  and  bullion  of  the  realm  at  not  over  £1,000,000 
and  opposed  the  subsidy  because  it  would  bring  all  the  money  of  the 
kingdom  into  the  king's  treasury.  Perhaps  this  was  not  merely  a  figurative 
statement.  The  payments  of  1522  and  1523  for  the  loans,  had  perhaps 
stripped  the  country  of  ready  money,  and  large  payments  in  1525  were  a 
physical  impossibility.  The  Commissioners  of  1525  repeatedly  mentioned 
the  scarcity  of  money. 


393]  WOLSEY  AND  NATIONAL  FINANCE  97 

in  raising  the  money  throughout  the  country.38  The  situation 
in  Suffolk  was  complicated  by  lack  of  employment  in  the  woolen 
industry  in  that  county;  and  early  in  May  the  men  in  Suffolk, 
Essex  and  the  scholars  of  Cambridge  combined  to  the  number 
of  20,000  men.  The  Dukes  of  Norfolk  and  Suffolk  took  prompt 
measures ;  the  insurrection  was  checked  at  the  outset ;  the  leaders 
were  arrested  and  the  rest  sent  home.39 

Henry  VIII  finally  yielded  to  the  opposition,  and  even  though 
he  took  it  " unkindly"  that  the  commons  pleaded  their  poverty 
and  their  lack  of  money  so  that  they  would  not  grant  anything, 
he  gave  instructions  by  letters  missive  to  the  commissioners  to 
proceed  "doulcely"  rather  than  by  violence,  to  reform  them  if 
possible.40  Wolsey  now  made  an  effort  to  collect  a  "benevolence" 
from  the  Londoners.  Though  the  aldermen  by  vote  of  the 
common  council  urged  the  men  in  their  wards  to  grant  a  benevo- 
lence, this  was  refused;  and  the  aldermen  and  the  lord  mayor, 
when  summoned  into  Wolsey 's  presence  refused  to  name  any  sum 
which  the  city  would  give.41 

It  is  worth  noting  that  no  mention  was  made  in  these  years 
of  dissatisfaction  with  the  unparliamentary  character  of  the 
king's  devices  for  obtaining  money  from  the  people.  They  al- 
leged their  poverty,  that  is,  their  unwillingness,  rather  than  any 
illegality  of  method.  They  were  chiefly  disgruntled  that  money 
was  obtained  from  them  at  all.  They  desired  not  to  bear  the 
burdens  of  the  state,  which  was  the  king's  business. 

When  the  costs  of  the  wars  with  France  in  Henry  VIII 's 
reign,  or  even  the  costs  of  single  campaigns  in  these  wars  be 
compared  with  the  costs  of  wars  in  the  fifteenth  century,  —  for 
example,  Henry  VII 's  war  with  Franc?  in  1492,  —  a  vast  in- 
crease is  found.  The  upward  curve  of  war  costs  probably 
equalled,  and  even  surpassed  the  accelerated  increase  of  national 
wealth.  But  the  experiences  of  1522  to  1525  showed  that  direct 

38  Letters  and  Papers,  IV,  1235,  a  letter  of  the  Duke  of  Norfolk,  April 
1,  1525. 

39  Letters   and  Papers,   IV,   1323,  a  letter   of  Norfolk  and   Suffolk  to 
Wolsey. 

*°Ibid.,  IV,  1318,  a  letter  of  Henry  VIII  to  the  commissioners,  May 
8,  1512. 

«  Hall,  Chronicles,  II,  39. 


98  ENGLISH   GOVERNMENT  FINANCE  [394 

taxation,  parliamentary  or  arbitrary,  was  too  inelastic  and  too 
much  opposed  to  the  self-interest  of  the  predominant  classes 
of  the  state  to  make  it  possible  to  use  taxation  to  divert  large 
enough  portions  of  the  country's  wealth  to  the  government,  to 
pay  the  costs  of  wars  under  modern  conditions.  Until  taxes  could 
be  made  more  elastic  and  productive,  and  the  prevailing  popular 
attitude  towards  them  changed,  they  were  merely  contributions 
in  aid  to  the  king  in  extraordinary  times,  so  small  now  compared 
with  the  new  extraordinary  expenditures,  that,  contrary  to 
the  situation  in  the  fifteenth  century,  but  little  dependence 
could  be  placed  in  them.  If  an  active  foreign  policy  continued 
to  be  followed  involving  the  danger  of  war,  it  would  soon  become 
essential  that  the  revenue  system  be  radically  extended. 

Even  in  times  of  peace,  the  existing  revenue  system  was  show- 
ing occasional  signs  of  inadequacy.  There  was  a  steady  decline 
through  the  decade  of  the  1520 's  in  the  Exchequer  revenues, 
while  the  expenditures  of  the  government  for  ordinary  purposes 
continued  slowly  to  rise.42  After  the  first  war  with  France, 
there  are  a  few  indications  of  financial  stringency,  which  was 
probably  temporary.43  In  the  years  after  the  second  French 
war,  the  situation  was  more  disturbing.44 

There  was  however,  no  serious  inadequacy  in  the  revenues  for 
ordinary  purposes  as  yet,  and  the  foreign  situation  was  not 
threatening.  The  pressure  was  not  great  enough  to  induce 
Wolsey,  —  the  conservative  reformer  —  perhaps  even  to  suspect 
the  need  of  any  radical  extension  of  the  revenue  system  in  the 

42  Accounts  of  the  Exchequer  and  of  the  Treasurer  of  the  Chamber. 

43  In    1517,   Guistinian,    the   Venetian   Ambassador   wrote    ' '  that   those 
in  authority  here    .     .     now  think  it  prudent  to  husband  their  resources, 
contrary  to  their  previous  custom"  (Brown,  Dispatches,  II,  127).     In  1519 
it  was  necessary  to  send  out  letters  missive  to  rich  churchmen  and  nobles 
for  loans   (Letters  and  Papers,  III,  562).     In  1521  Pace,  the  king's  sec- 
retary noted  that  the  Treasury  of  the  Chamber  was  empty   (Letters  and 
Papers,  III,  1650).    A  little  later  Henry  VIII  wrote  to  the  Earl  of  Surrey 
that  he  did  »ot  propose  to  appoint  a  new  lieutenant  in  Ireland  with  like 
retinue  "as  ye  now  have,"  "because  of  the  expense"    (Letters  and  Pa- 
pers, III,  1718). 

**  At  the  beginning  of  the  year  1528  the  outlook  was  so  dark  that  in  an 
estimate  drawn  up  in  January  of  all  possible  sums  that  might  be  levied, 
it  seemed  advisable  to  levy  the  unpaid  portions  of  the  loan  of  1523,  and 
to  practice  for  the  anticipation  of  the  subsidy  due  in  the  spring. 


395]  WOLSEY  AND  NATIONAL  FINANCE  99 

near  future.  For  what  deficiencies  there  were,  he  trusted  first 
to  reform  and  retrenchment,  and  the  removal  of  abuses  in  the 
existing  order.  In  1515  it  was  realized  that  grants  of  land  had 
been  made  too  lavishly  to  royal  favorites ;  and  an  act  of  resump- 
tion of  all  the  grants  with  certain  exceptions  was  passed  by 
Parliament.45  In  1519  more  frequent  accounts  by  the  regular 
treasurers  were  under  consideration,  together  with  the  appro- 
priation of  fixed  sums  for  various  purposes  and  the  reform  of 
the  Exchequer.46  It  was  probably  in  connection  with  this  re- 
form of  the  Exchequer  that  the  accounts  of  the  wool  subsidy 
collected  at  Calais  by  the  Society  of  the  Staple,  and  the  accounts 
of  the  Clerk  of  the  Hanaper  ceased  to  be  rendered  there  after 
1519;  and  that  many  of  the  offices  in  the  two  branches  of  the 
Exchequer  were  filled  with  new  men  in  1582  and  1523.47  Royal 
officials  were  warned  at  the  same  time  to  use  extreme  care  that 
all  the  revenues  and  profits  to  which  the  king  was  rightly  en- 
titled should  come  to  his  hands.48  In  1526  a  great  reformation  of 
the  household  was  affected  by  the  Statutes  of  Eltham  "which 
some  said  were  more  profitable  than  honorable. ' ' 49  Schedules 
of  officials  and  servants,  with  their  assigned  wages  were  drawn 
up,  the  purchase  of  provisions  was  placed  under  the  supervision 
of  the  treasurer  and  controller  of  the  household;  disbursements 
were  to  be  entered  every  day  and  the  accounts  audited  quarterly  ; 
superfluous  servants  were  discharged  and  the  number  of  the 
yeomen  of  the  guard  decreased.60 

Wolsey  also,  characteristically,  endeavored  to  turn  to  best 
advantage  his  master's  foreign  policy.  From  the  wars  them- 
selves, and  the  international  situation  he  reaped  whatever  finan- 
cial benefits  were  to  be  gathered  there  for  the  rehabilitation  of 

«5  Statutes  of  the  Eealm,  6  Henry  VIII,  c.  25.  These  resumptions  and 
later  confiscations  like  those  of  the  Duke  of  Buckingham's  lands,  worth 
£6,045  a  year,  raised  the  crown  lands  to  even  greater  value  than  they  had 
been  in  Henry  VII  's  time. 

46  Letters  and  Papers,  III,  576,  Memorandum  of  the  administration  of 
king's  affairs,  drawn  up  by  Wolsey;  ibid.,  Ill,  576  (II) ;  IV,  5749,  5750. 

*7  Exch.  of  Receipt,  Declarations  of  the  State  of  the  Treasury,  VIII, 
IX,  X. 

48  Letters  and  Papers,  II,  4547;  III,  3692. 

49  Hall,  Chronicle,  I,  56-57. 

so  The  Statutes  of  Eltham,  Letters  and  Papers,  IV,  1939. 


100  ENGLISH   GOVERNMENT   FINANCE  [396 

the  royal  revenues,  in  the  form  of  the  pensions  from  France 
and  their  increase.  Upon  Henry  VIII  's  accession,  Louis  XII 
had  acknowledged  the  obligation  of  the  French  pension  which 
Charles  VIII  had  granted  to  Henry  VII.51  The  old  principal 
of  745,000  crowns  was  nearly  all  paid  when  the  first  war  with 
France  began.  In  1514,  Louis  XII  was  forced  to  increase 
the  principal  still  owing,  to  one  million  gold  crowns,  to  be  paid 
at  the  rate  of  one  hundred  thousand  francs  a  year,  just  double 
the  former  payment.5"  Beside  providing  revenue,  the  pension 
flattered  the  king.  Henry  VIII  chose  to  regard  it  as  a  tribute 
paid  to  him  as  rightful  sovereign  of  France,  by  the  king  in  pos- 
session.53 In  1518  Francis  I  was  so  eager  for  the  return  of 
Tournai  that  he  consented  to  pay  600,000  gold  crowns  for  it,  to 
be  paid  as  a  pension  of  25,000  francs,  each  half  year  in  addition 
to  the  other  pension.  The  French  indemnities  were  thus  in- 
creased to  150,000  francs  a  year.54  In  1522,  as  one  of  the  condi- 
tions for  securing  the  English  alliance,  Charles  V  was  compelled 
to  guarantee  the  French  pensions,  should  they  be  stopped  as 
a  result  of  the  war.55  The  humiliation  of  Francis  I  in  1525 
gave  Wolsey  an  opportunity  to  drive  a  very  hard  bargain  with 
him  in  the  Treaty  of  More.  Francis  bound  himself  for  the 
payment  of  2,052,631  crowns  to  Henry  VIII.  This  sum  rep- 
resented 631,579  crowns  of  the  unpaid  portion  of  the  1,000,000 
crowns,  agreed  upon  in  1514;  500,000  crowns  still  due  of  the 
600,000  crowns  for  the  restoration  of  Tournai;  30.000  francs 
owing  by  the  citizens  of  Tournai  to  Henry  VIII,  462,000  crowns 
in  repayment  of  a  loan  of  378,960  crowns  which  Henry  VIII 
had  made  to  Francis  I  in  November,  1520,  and  an  indemnity  of 
299,542  crowns  for  the  rupture  in  Italy.  Payment  was  to  be 
made  in  half  yearly  payments  of  50,000  crowns  of  gold  or  47,368 
crowns  of  the  sun,  each.  If  all  was  paid  before  Henry's  death, 
the  same  sum  was  to  be  paid  each  year  during  the  rest  of  his 
life.56 

si  Letters  and  Papers,  1, 14,  318,  626,  1027, 1181. 

52  Letters  and  Papers,  I,  5280. 

53  Brown,  Dispatches,  I,  237. 

54  Letters  and  Papers,  II,  4476;  III,  199 
ss  Hid.,  Ill,  1508. 

se  Kymer,  Foedera  O.  XIV,  58-68. 


397]  WOLSEY  AND  NATIONAL  FINANCE  101 

In  April,  1527,  there  was  a  new  opportunity  to  increase  the 
pensions  from  France.  The  league  of  Cognac  had  been  formed, 
and  Francis  was  willing  to  pay  high  for  an  English  alliance. 
The  new  treaties  provided  for  the  payment  of  a  perpetual 
pension  of  50,000  crowns  of  gold  a  year  and  15,000  gold  crowns 
worth  of  black  salt,  as  a  tribute  in  recompense  of  English  claims 
to  the  French  crown.  The  perpetual  pension  was  to  begin  on 
Henry  VIII  's  death  and  be  paid  in  perpetuity  to  his  successors ; 
the  black  salt  pension  was  granted  for  the  term  of  Henry's  own 
life.  It  was  never  paid  in  black  salt,  and  was  later  commuted 
to  a  money  payment  of  10,000  crowns.57  Wolsey's  own  opinion 
of  the  treaty,  and  his  regard  of  its  financial  advantages  is  seen 
in  a  speech  of  his  reported  by  Hall,  which  he  made  on  the  occa- 
sion of  the  peace  of  Amiens  a  few  months  later.  "Therefore 
now  my  lords,  be  merry,  for  the  king  shall  nevermore  charge 
you  with  wars  in  France  .  .  so  that  with  exactions  for 
wars  of  France  you  shall  be  no  more  charged,  for  the  king 
shall  have  no  need,  because  that  he  by  this  league  shall  be  the 
richest  prince  of  the  world.  For  I  assure  you  he  shall  have  more 
treasure  out  of  France  yearly  than  all  his  revenues  and  customs 
amount  to,  yea  and  count  his  wards,  forfeits  and  all  such 
casualties. ' ' 58 

Finally,  at  Cambrai  in  1529,  Wolsey  further  increased  the 
payments  from  France  by  persuading  Francis  I  to  assume  the 
debts  of  Charles  V  to  Henry  VIII.  Francis  assumed  these  obli- 
gations of  the  Emperor  as  part  consideration  to  the  Emperor, 
for  the  release  of  his  two  sons,  the  Dauphin  of  Vienne  and  the 
Duke  of  Orleans,  held  as  Hostages  by  Charles  V.59  But  long 
before  the  treaty  of  Cambrai  was  signed,  the  simultaneous  ap- 

57  In  December,  1530,  the  black  salt  pension  was  converted  into  a  money 
payment,  with  30,000  crowns  for  arrears  and  10,000  crowns  yearly  tribute 
(Letters  and  Papers,  IV,  6755,  6775). 

68  Hall,  Chronicle,  II,  105-106. 

5»  These  obligations  were  various  loans  made  to  Charles  since  the 
beginning  of  the  reign,  with  a  debt  of  £100,000  owing  by  Maximilian  to 
Henry  VII,  and  an  advance  on  the  security  ofyfleur  de  lys  pawned  by 
Maximilian  with  Henry  VII;  the  indemnity  for  the  loss  of  the  French 
pensions  between  1552  and  1525,  and  a  penalty  of  500,000  crowns  for 
Charles's  breaking  his  agreement  to  marry  Mary  (Letters  and  Papers,  IV, 
5881,  6231).  Kmcis  took  these  obligations  at  an  enormous  discount. 


102  ENGLISH   GOVERNMENT   FINANCE  [398 

pearance  of  the  divorce  question  in  England  and  the  capture 
of  Rome  by  Charles  V,  had  ruined  Wolsey's  plan  to  augment 
the  royal  income  by  pensions  from  France.  A  French  alliance 
was  absolutely  essential,60  and  for  that  alliance  England  paid, 
not  only  in  remitted  pension  payments,  but  in  actual  cash  sub- 
sidies.61 During  the  years  from  1531  to  1534  the  payment  of 
pensions  was  resumed ;  but  after  the  May  or  November  payment 
in  1534,  Francis  took  advantage  of  the  situation  of  England 
at  home  and  abroad,  on  account  of  the  divorce  question,  to  cease 
payment.62 

Wolsey  was  supremely  great  in  diplomacy  and  very  skilled  in 
administration.  He  did  not  however,  grasp  the  trend  of  the 
financial  problem.  Reforms  and  retrenchments  temporarily  re- 
lieved pressing  situations;  the  increase  of  the  French  pensions 
precariously  enhanced  the  royal  income.  But  he  did  nothing 
which  indicates  that  he  saw  that,  since  the  small  margin  between 
income  and  disbursements  gave  the  king  no  opportunity  to  save 
much  money,  and  taxation  could  not  be  depended  upon  to  pro- 
vide rapidly  and  abundantly  enough  the  money  needed  for  wars 
or  other  sudden  contingencies,  the  normal  royal  revenues  would 
have  to  be  vastly  increased  for  the  public  safety,  in  the  not  far 
distant  future.  But  even  the  greatest  statesmen  seldom  cross 
bridges  until  they  come  to  them. 

so  The  necessity  of  the  French  Alliance  is  recognized  in  a  letter  of 
Knight  to  Wolsey  (Letters  and  Papers,  IV,  5771).  See  also  a  later  state- 
ment of  the  recognition  of  the  situation,  in  a  report  of  Henry  VIII 's 
remarks  to  Chapuys,  the  imperial  ambassador  (Ibid.,  XX,  part  I,  1197). 

ei  Between  August  18,  1527,  when  the  Treaty  of  Amiens  was  signed, 
and  May  1,  1529,  £112,437  was  paid  to  France;  £49,148  in  money, 
£10,000  in  the  form  of  a  jewel,  and  £53,289  in  remitted  pensions  (Letters 
and  Papers,  IV,  5515).  See  also  ibid.,  IV,  App.  183;  IV,  1604  (3). 

62  In  1531  and  1532,  15,000  crowns  was  paid  each  year  for  the  arrears 
cf  the  salt  "tax;"  10,000  crowns  for  the  commutation  of  the  salt  "tax;" 
100,000  crowns  for  the  debts  of  Charles  V,  and  94,736  crowns  for  the 
regular  pension.  In  November,  1532,  the  last  payment  of  the  arrears 
of  the  pension  of  black  salt,  and  the  last  payment  for  the  debts  of  Charles 
V  were  made;  so  that  in  1533  and  1534  the  payments  were  reduced  to 
10,000  crowns  for  the  salt  "tax"  commutation,  and  94,736  crowns  of  the 
regular  pension  (Letters  and  Papers,  V,  222,  1065,  1504).  The  November 
payment  in  1534  is  described  as  taking  "the  road  of  Germany  to  make  a 
brewing"  (Letters  and  Papers,  VII,  1554,  Chapuys  to  Charles  V). 


CHAPTER  IX 

CROMWELL  's  EARLY  ADMINISTRATION 

Without  question  Cromwell's  rapid  rise  to  power  was* due  to 
his  services  to  the  king  in  his  "grete  matier"  of  the  divorce. 
But  if  we  may  believe  one  of  the  contemporary  stories,  in  his 
first  interview  with  Henry  VIII,  Cromwell  promised  to  make 
him  the  richest  king  who  had  ever  ruled  in  England.  Henry 
was  so  struck  by  this  promise  that  he  at  once  made  Cromwell  a 
member  of  his  council.1  Certainly  he  was  early  interested  in 
government  finance.  As  early  as  1531  he  issued  orders  which 
show  that  he  controlled  financial  officials;2  in  1532  he  began  to 
act  as  a  special  treasurer  for  new  revenues,3  and  from  1533  to 
his  fall,  every  financial  measure  is  noted  in  his  remembrances, 
in  a  way  indicating  that  he  was  personally  occupied  with  plan- 
ning and  carrying  it  through.  The  "Remembrances"  are 
short  disjointed  jottings  on  slips  of  paper,  or  on  the  backs  of 
letters  or  important  documents,  which  are  the  best  source  for 
a  study  of  the  things  with  which  Cromwell  was  busied. 

The  financial  situation  was  not  serious  or  critical  on  Wolsey's 
fall.  There  were  occasional  difficulties,  but  no  pressing  urgent 
necessity  for  a  radical  reorganization.  But  several  developments 
in  the  early  years  of  Cromwell's  adminstration  brought  the  prob- 
lem nearer  the  point  where  it  must  be  solved.  First,  there  was 
continued  decrease  in  some  of  the  old  sources  of  income.  As 
already  noted,  the  French  pensions  ceased,  except  in  the  years 
1531  to  1534.  The  Customs  revenues,  which  averaged  £42,643 
a  year  during  the  first  decade  of  the  reign,  and  £35,305  a  year 
from  1521  to  1529,  fell  to  £32,195  for  an  average  year  during 

1  Merriman,  I,  17,   76.     The  story  is  told  in   a  letter  of  Chapuys,  to 
Granvelle   describing   Cromwell,   November   21,   1535. 

2  Letters  and  Papers,  V,  277. 

s /bid.,  V,  1639;  VI,  228,  717;  VII,  430. 

103 


104  ENGLISH   GOVERNMENT   FINANCE  [400 

the  period  1530  to  1538.4  The  loss  was  due  to  a  sharp  fall  in 
the  wool  subsidy  revenues.5  Of  greater  effect  than  the  "decay" 
of  the  revenues  were  increased  expenditures.  Reference  has 
already  been  made  to  the  rise  in  the  expenses  of  the  household. 
Another  most  important  increase  after  1529  was  the  king 's  outlay 
for  the  erection  of  new  palaces  and  the  purchase  of  new  manors. 
This  became  so  great  that  Cromwell  in  1534  wrote  in  one  of 
his  remembrances,  "What  a  great  charge  it  is  to  the  king  to 
continue  his  buildings  in  so  many  places  at  once  .  .  if  the 
king  would  spare  for  one  year,  how  profitable  it  would  be  to 
him. ' ' 6  Harbor  improvements  were  begun  at  Dover ;  and  ex- 
tensive works  were  carried  out  in  the  fortifications  and  harbor 
of  Calais,  at  the  cost  of  many  thousands  of  pounds  each  year.7 
Troubles  on  the  Scotch  borders  and  insurrections  in  Ireland 
brought  new  charges.  The  support  of  an  army  against  Scotland 
to  prevent  a  repetition  of  the  forays  of  1532  cost  £24,800  during 
the  year  following.8  Irish  revenues  scarcely  covered  the  costs 
of  the  Irish  government  in  ordinary  years.  When  Kildare's 
rebellion  broke  out  in  1534,  and  an  army  of  two  thousand  foot 
and  three  hundred  horse  were  sent  over  to  subdue  the  country,  a 
deficit  of  £38,000  for  the  first  year's  campaign  had  to  be  met 
from  the  English  treasury.9  Next,  though  of  more  interest 

aSchanz,  II,  12. 

5  The  wool  subsidy  had  yielded  £15,231  a  year  in  the  first  decade  of 
the  reign;  it  fell  to  £5,701  a  year  in  the  period  1530-1538.  In  other 
customs  dues  there  was  a  slight  increase  in  these  last  years. 

e  Letters  and  Papers,  VII,  143,  Cromwell 's  Remembrances,  January, 
1534.  In  1536  Cromwell  again  referred  to  such  expenditures  in  a  paper  of 
"things  done  by  the  king's  highness  sythyn  I  came  to  his  service" 
(Letters  and  Papers,  X,  1231). 

7  Works  on  a  large  scale  at  Calais  were  begun  after  Henry  VIII  's  visit 
in  1532.     See  Chronicle  of  Calais,   (Camden  Society),  App.  98,  123,  128; 
Letters  and  Papers,  V,  370,  1668;  XVI,  303;  VI,  228.     In  May,  1533,  the 
mayor  and  citizens  of  Dover  petitioned  the  king  to  "have  the  harbor  dug 
out,"  since  it  had  been  filled  up  by  small  stones  cast  up  "by  violent  rages 
of  the  sea."    Work  was  begun  in  1535  (Accounts,  Exch.,  Queen's  Remem- 
brancer, 58/13;  Letters  and  Papers,  X,  102;  XI,  1254;  XII,  part  I,  92; 
XIII,  part  II,  223). 

8  Letters  and  Papers,  VI,  664,  1162;   accounts  of  Sir  George  Lawson, 
Treasurer   of  the   Scotch   Wars,   September   14,   1532,   and   September  27, 
1533. 

«  Letters  and  Papers,  VIII,  788;  IX,  217,  Receipts  of  William  Brabason, 


415]  CROMWELL'S  EARLY  ADMINISTRATION  105 

than  importance,  in  the  series  of  new  and  enhanced  expenditure 
during  the  first  years  of  Cromwell's  administration,  were  pay- 
ments directly  connected  with  the  divorce  of  Queen  Catherine. 
On  the  divorce  itself,  Henry  VIII  spent  very  little  money,  and 
that  chiefly  in  salaries  of  ambassadors  and  special  agents  to 
Rome,  bribes  to  high  officials  of  the  Curia  and  gratuities  to  Uni- 
versity doctors  for  subscribing  to  opinions  favorable  to  Henry's 
position.10 

Though  the  divorce  itself  cost  little,  the  foreign  situation 
created  by  the  divorce  had  tremendous  effects  on  the  financial 
history  of  the  Tudor  period.  The  Emperor  Charles  V  bitterly 
resented  Henry's  attempt  to  divorce  his  aunt,  Catherine  of 
Aragon.  Not  only  did  he  prevent  the  Pope  from  giving  a  de- 
cision favorable  to  Henry  VIII,  but  there  seemed  to  be  danger 
all  through  the  period  from  1529  to  1536  that  the  Emperor  would 
wage  war  on  England  in  his  aunt 's  behalf.  To  offset  this  danger, 
the  English  alliance  with  France  was  carefully  cultivated,  at 
great  cost  in  remission  of  pensions;  the  Potestant  princes  of 
Germany  were  approached  with  a  view  to  an  alliance,  and 
Jiirgen  Wullenwever  of  Liibeck  was  subsidized,  in  his  efforts  to 
secure  the  election  of  a  Danish  king  opposed  "to  Charles  V.11 
The  fear  of  an  imperial  attack  was  especially  strong  in  the 
summer  of  1533,  after  the  passage  of  the  Act  of  Appeals,  the 
final  sentence  of  divorce  by  Cranmer's  court,  the  coronation  of 
Anne  and  the  papal  bull  excommunicating  Henry.  In  the  mem- 
oranda of  Cromwell  many  notes  are  found  which  indicate  his 
concern  for  measures  of  defence,  —  "To  remember  the  king  for 
the  reparation  of  his  navy ; "  ' '  a  bill  to  be  drawn  up  for  granting 
money  for  fortifying  the  frontiers;"  "The  Pope  is  only  Bishop 
of  Rome  .  .  Devices  to  be  made  for  repairing  the  fortifica- 
tions, especially  on  the  frontiers  of  Scotland  .  .  The  King's 
navy,  ordnances  and  munitions  of  war,  bows  guns  .  .  to  be 

Treasurer  of  the  Irish  Wars.  To  May,  1535,  he  had  received  £34,628  from 
England  and  £3,373  from  the  king's  revenues  in  Ireland.  In  August, 
1535,  he  received  an  additional  £4,438  from  England. 

10  Letters  and  Papers,  IV,  V,  VI,  passim. 

"Henry  VIII  loaned  Wullenwever,  20,000  guilders  in  1534;  in  1535 
he  sent  a  sum  rumored  to  be  90,000  ducats;  and  in  1536  he  sent  £5,000 
(Letters  and  Papers,  VIII,  page  XIX;  IX,  287;  X,  376). 


106  ENGLISH   GOVERNMENT   FINANCE  [402 

repaired  and  provided  for."12  The  works  at  Calais  were  most 
carefully  surveyed,  the  ships  of  the  royal  navy  were  ordered 
to  be  got  ready  and  orders  were  issued  to  erect  block-houses 
and  forts  at  various  places  in  defence  of  sudden  invasions  — 
which  Chapuys,  the  imperial  ambassador  said  showed  that  "they 
are  beginning  to  be  afraid. ' ' 13 

During  these  years  of  stress  foreign  observers  in  England 
constantly  refer  to  a  new  development  in  Henry  VIII  's  character 
or  policy,  which  they  did  not  quite  understand.  From  being 
liberal,  he  had  become  avaricious,  in  the  words  of  Lodovico 
Falier  to  the  Venetian  senate,14  and  Chapuys  showed  in  his 
letters  to  Charles  V  that  he  had  the  same  general  feeling. 
Cromwell  even  encouraged  him  in  this  simple  belief ;  in  the  early 
summer  of  1535  he  took  Chapuys  aside  privately  and  assured 
him,  "to  be  frank,  his  master  (Henry  VIII)  had  become  very 
greedy;  and  unless  some  other  way  were  found  to  spend  his 
money,  he  would  collect  in  his  treasury  all  the  money  of  the 
kingdom  to  the  great  injury  of  private  persons.  He  (Cromwell) 
and  the  other  councillors  wished  to  find  means  to  make  him  spend 
it  for  the  general  good,  thinking  this  would  also  moderate  his 
greediness. ' ' 1S  But  simple  greediness  does  not  explain  the 
king's  desire  to  fill  his  coffers.  When  Carlo  Capello  wrote  to 
the  Signory  of  Venice,  "he  is  amassing  money  and  hastening 
the  fortifications  of  the  Tower  of  London,"  he  was  joining  the 
process,  with  a  clue  to  the  cause  in  one  sentence.16  Cromwell's 
note  ' '  What  necessity  there  is  to  cause  treasure  to  be  laid  up  for 
all  events;"  suggests  the  true  explanation,  and  in  many  of  the 
numerous  schemes  drawn  up  by  him  for  adding  new  revenues 
to  the  crown,  the  reason  given  is  the  fear  of  an  attack  by  the 
Emperor.17 

In  1525  the  lack  of  money,  and  the  impossibility  of  getting 
any  quickly  from  the  nation  had  compelled  Henry  VIII  to 
withdraw  from  the  war  with  France.  The  situation  which  now 

12  Letters  and  Papers,  VI,  997,  1381,  1487,  Cromwell's  Remembrances, 
is  Letters  and   Papers,   VI,   1460,   a   letter   of   Chapuys   to   Charles  V. 
i*  Venetian  Calendar,  IV,  694,  Lodovico  Falier  to  the  Senate, 
is  Letters  and  Papers,  VIII,  826,   a  letter  of  Chapuys   to   Charles  V, 
June,  1535. 

is  Venetian  Calendar,  IV,  788. 
IT  Letters  and  Papers,  VII,  143. 


403]  CROMWELL'S  EARLY  ADMINISTRATION  107 

faced  him  was  the  possibility  of  a  war  not  of  his  own  choosing  or 
volition.  He  would  be  on  the  defensive,  and  could  not  withdraw 
when  he  pleased.  It  was  therefore  essential  for  the  safety  of 
England  and  his  own  security  as  king,  to  accumulate  a  sufficient 
surplus  to  enable  England  to  carry  on  a  war  vigorously  as  long 
as  the  enemy  might  attack.  To  fill  up  the  War  Chest,  without 
which  the  security  of  the  throne  and  the  national  safety  was 
endangered,  new  revenues  were  necessary.  Experiments  with 
taxation  again  were  made,  but  they  only  complemented  the 
results  of  Wolsey's  and  Henry  VII 's  experiences.  The  very 
rumor,  current  in  1531  that  the  king  meant  to  draw  from  the 
Commons  a  large  sum  on  the  ground  that  they  were  involved 
in  Wolsey's  praemunire,  as  had  been  done  in  tile  case  of  the 
clergy,  led  the  House  of  Commons  to  demand  a  free  exemption 
from  the  charge.  "As  the  king  would  not  listen  to  them  for 
some  days,  there  was  great  a  murmuring  among  them  in  the 
Chamber  of  Commons,  where  it  was  publicly  said  in  the  presence 
of  some  of  the  privy  council,  that  the  king  had  burdened  and 
oppressed  his  kingdom  with  more  imposts  and  exactions  than 
any  three  or  four  of  his  predecessors,  and  he  ought  to  consider 
that  the  strength  of  the  king  lay  in  the  affections  of  his  people. 
And  many  instances  were  alleged  of  inconveniences  which  had 
happened  to  Princes  through  the  ill  treatment  of  their  subjects. 
On  learning  this,  the  king  granted  the  exemption  .  .  without 
any  reservation. " 18  In  the  next  year  fortunes  were  again 
essayed  in  Parliament.  The  necessity  of  the  grant  was  intimated 
to  the  Commons  in  January,  1532  ;19  but  nothing  was  done  by 
the  Commons.  Finally,  on  April  16,  1532  the  king  sent  the 
Chancellor,  the  Duke  of  Norfolk  and  other  lords  to  the  House 
of  Commons,  to  show  the  need  of  making  a  harbor  ai^  Dover, 
of  fortifying  the  Scotch  frontier,  and  making  preparations  for 
war  during  the  peace.  Two  weeks  later,  two  men  arose  in 
Parliament  and  boldly  spoke  against  the  fortifications  of  the 
Scotch  frontier,  for  which  Henry  had  asked  aid,  saying  that 
it  was  the  best  fortification  to  maintain  peace  with  the  Emperor 
and  take  back  Catherine.  The  words  were  well  taken  by 

is  Letters  and  Papers,  V,  171,  a  letter  from  London,  April  2,  1531. 
19  Letters  and  Papers,  V,  762,  a  letter  of  Chapuys  to  Charles  V,  Janu- 
ary 30,  1532. 


108  ENGLISH   GOVERNMENT   FINANCE  [404 

nearly  all  present  and  nothing  was  concluded.  "The  king  was 
displeased  and  sent  for  a  majority  of  the  deputies,  and  made 
them  a  long  speech  in  justification  of  his  conduct  in  the  divorce. ' ' 
Parliament  granted  a  fifteenth.  The  king  was  so  displeased  at 
the  smallness  of  the  grant,  that  he  was  not  present  at  the  last 
meeting  of  the  session  and  eventually  rejected  it.20 

Cromwell  soon  learned  to  render  Parliament  more  docile  by 
controlling  the  election  of  members ;  and  later  Parliaments  could 
be  got  to  vote  taxes  without  difficulty.21  But  the  grants  were 
never  commensurate  with  the  needs  of  the  state,  even  when  voted 
by  subservient  Parliaments;  and  worse,  there  was  never  any 
guarantee  that  the  people  would  pay  even  the  moderate  taxes 
without  murrfuring.22  The  medieval  forms  and  notions  of  tax- 
ation were  equally  unfitted  either  to  cover  the  growing  deficien- 
cies in  the  state  disbursements,  as  the  experiences  of  the  fifteenth 
century  showed;  to  finance  wars  directly,  as  "Wolsey  found;  or 
to  help  the  king  to  lay  up  a  large  surplus  against  a  threatening 
war  in  the  future,  as  was  now  discovered. 

Since  taxation  was  ineffective  in  aiding  the  king  to  accumulate 
treasure;  "against  all  events,"  and  even  to  meet  the  increasing 
expenses  of  the  government,  and  make  good  decreasing  revenues, 
the  normal  permanent  revenues  of  the  crown  had  to  be  increased, 
without  infringing  the  self  interest  of  the  middle  class  whose 
alliance  with  the  crown  formed  the  Tudor  Commonwealth. 
Cromwell's  general  problem  was  the  same  as  that  which 
Henry  VII  had  coped  with.  The  reduction  of  the  nobility  and 
the  conversion  of  its  wealth  to  the  purposes  of  the  crown  by 
forfeiture  or  escheat  of  lands,  and  by  way  of  great  fines  was  Henry 
VII  's  solution.  What  the  nobility  was  to  Henry  VII,  the  Church 
was  to  Cromwell.  His  work  was  simply  the  historical  evolution 
of  Henry  VII 's  policy,  under  certain  different  conditions  and 
circumstances.  The  permanent  crown  revenues  were  about  to 

20  Letters  and  Papers,  V,  941,  989,  1046,  letters  of  Chapuys  to  Charles 
V,  April  and  May,  1532. 

21  Merriman,  Life  and  Letters  of  Thomas  Cromwell,  I,  91-92. 

22  While  the  tax  of  1532  was  being  discussed  in  Parliament,  many  men 
in  London  believed  that  attempts  to  collect  the  tax  would  lead  the  people 
to  mutiny.    Letters  and  Papers,  V,  762,  941,  letters  of  Chapuys  to  Charles 
V.     The  same  was  true  in  1534  when  a  large  grant  was  actually)  voted. 
Ibid.,  VII,  1554. 


405]  CROMWELL'S  EARLY  ADMINISTRATION  109 

• 
receive  their  second  great  increase  of  Tudor  times;  and  as  in 

Henry  VII  's  day,  the  large  part  of  this  increase  came  in  the 
form  of  land  or  revenues  from  lands. 

Diversions  of  the  wealth  of  the  church  from  the  church  to 
the  crown  were  no  new  thing  in  England.  Quite  apart  from 
the  use  of  the  revenues  of  the  great  ecclesiastical  benefices  as 
salaries  for  the  great  officials  of  the  crown,  of  which  Wolsey 
furnishes  a  striking  example,23  and  apart  from  the  tenths  voted 
by  tHe  Convocations  to  the  Crown,  were  the  actual  seizures  of 
Church  property  in  times  past.  Edward  II  dissolved  twenty- 
three  preceptories  of  Templars  and  only  partially  restored  their 
lands  to  religious  uses  ;24  the  Commons  in  1410  petitioned  for  the 
confiscation  of  all  the  property  of  the  church  —  a  petition  which 
was  remembered  in  Parliament  in  152925 — ,  and  Henry  V  seized 
the  property  of  the  alien  priories  in  England.26  And  that  per- 
haps some  further  plan  was  on  foot  toward  the  end  of  Henry 
VII 's  reign  is  suggested  by  Dudley's  warning  to  Henry  VIII, 
"  Restrain  yourself  from  appropriation  of  benefices  or  to  unite 
any  house  of  religion  to  another,  for  if  this  do  continue  it  shall 
by  all  likelyhood  destroy  the  honor  of  the  Church  of  England. ' ' 27 
Moreover,  "  William  of  Wykeham  and  Chicele,  Wayanflete  and 
Fisher,  Alcock  of  Ely,  and  Smith  of  London  had  all  diverted 
wealth  from  monastic  into  educational  channels,  and  this  idea 
of  utilizing  conventional  revenues  for  the  promotion  of  learning 
and  culture  had  been  carried  out  on  a  large  and  impressive 
scale  by  Wolsey,"  who  had  suppressed  more  than  twenty  con- 
ventional houses  for  his  school  and  colleges  at  Ipswich  and 
Oxford.28 

The  newer  and  larger  appropriations  of  the  wealth  of  the 
Church  now  begun  were  quite  in  the  current  of  the  events  of  the 
day.  Sequestration  of  church  property  into  lay  hands  was  in 
the  air  all  over  Europe.  In  Norway  the  spoliation  of  the  treas- 

23  Cavendish,   Life   of    Wolsey,  JX    95.      He   was   Archbishop    of   York, 
Bishop  of  Winchester  and  held  the\  Abbey  of  St.  Albans  in  commendam, 
and  the  Sees  of  Bath  and  Wells,  of  Worcester  and  of  Hereford  in  ferrae. 

24  Fisher,  Political  History  of  England,  369. 

25  Letters  and  Papers,  IV,  6043. 

26  Fisher,  op.  cit.,  369. 

27  Dudley,  Tree  of  Commonwealth,^. 

28  Fisher,  op.  cit.  369,  370. 


110  ENGLISH   GOVERNMENT   FINANCE  [406 

Tires  and  wealth  of  the  churches  and  monasteries  was  carried 
out  to  the  benefit  of  Frederick  I,  and  others.29  In  Switzerland 
the  monastic  property  had  already  been  turned  over  to  the 
purposes  of  education  and  poor  relief.30  In  Germany,  Landgrave 
Philip  and  the  Estates  of  Hesse  —  to  give  but  one  example  — 
had  suppressed  the  majority  of  religious  houses  by  the  regu- 
lations of  the  Diet  of  October,  1527.  From  the  property,  com- 
pensation was  given  to  the  inmates,  the  University  of  Marburg 
was  founded,  the  nobility  were  provided  for,  and  the  remainder 
of  it  was  constituted  a  fund  for  the  use  of  the  prince,  the  nobles 
and  the  cities  under  the  control  of  the  estates.31  Even  in  Catho- 
lic Europe,  the  property  of  the  Church  was  menaced.  The 
Austrian  government  went  far  in  claiming  secular  administra- 
tion of  the  episcopal  domains,  and  the  papist  junkers  were 
more  Lutheran  than  the  Lutherans  themselves  in  the  scramble 
for  conventual  lands.32 

The  confiscation  of  all  Wolsey's  property  after  his  fall  in 
1529  was  the  preliminary  act  to  the  "great  sacrilege"  in  Eng- 
land.33 In  December,  1530,  it  was  conveniently  discovered  that 
the  whole  clergy  of  England  was  involved  in  the  Praemunire 
of  Wolsey.  The  spiritual  lords  were  called  in  by  process  into 
the  King 's  Bench  to  answere  to  that  charge.34  The  Convocation  of 
Canterbury  was  quickly  called,  and  the  clergy  offered  the  King 
160,000  ducats  for  a  pardon  by  act  of  Parliament.  This  sum, 
the  King  refused  to  accept ;  saying  he  would  have  400,000  ducats 
(£100,000)  or  he  would  punish  everyone  with  extreme  vigor.35 
The  Convocation  was  so  thoroughly  cowed  that  it  refused  to 
allow  the  Papal  Nuncio  to  address  it,  when  he  appeared  offering 
to  intercede  with  the  King,  "for  they  had  not  the  King's  leave  to 

as  Cambridge  Modern  History,  II,  618. 

so  Ibid.,  II,  321. 

si  Banke,  Deutsche  Geschichte  im  Zeitalter  der  Reformation,  in  Sammt- 
liehe  Werke,  II,  317. 

32/fcid.,  II,  313-314. 

33  Du  Bellay  the  French  ambassador  valued  this  at  500,000  ducats  or 
£125,000  (Letters  and  Papers,  IV,  6030),  a  merchant  in  England  at  900,000 
angelots  or  £150,000  (Letters  and  Papers,  IV,  6057). 

s*  Hall,  Chronicle,  II,  183. 

35  Letters  and  Papers,  V,  62,  a  letter  of  Chapuys  to  Charles  V,  January 
23,  1531. 


407]  CROMWELL'S  EARLY  ADMINISTRATION  111 

speak  with  him."36  On  January  24,37  they  voted  £100,044  8s. 
8d.,  only  to  find  on  February  7,  that  there  was  another  condition 
to  the  royal  pardon,  —  that  they  acknowledge  the  King  as  Head 
of  the  English  Church.38  It  may  be,  as  one  scholar  asserts,39 
that  the  object  of  prime  importance  in  the  mind  of  the  King 
and  Cromwell,  was  to  secure  the  recognition  of  Henry  VIII  as 
Head  of  the  English  Church;  but  certainly  the  circumstances 
which  led  to  action  just  at  this  time  were  the  need  of  money 
to  make  up  the  probable  shortage  in  funds,  and  to  provide 
revenue  in  case  of  a  war  with  the  Emperor.  That  the  King 
himself  had  this  last  point  very  much  in  mind  is  seen  in  his 
demand,  probably  made  at  the  same  time  that  the  recognization 
of  the  King  as  Head  of  the  Church  was  insisted  upon,  that  in 
case  he  or  any  of  his  allies  made  war,  the  clergy  should  be  bound 
to  advance  the  money  promised  by  them  at  once,  without  waiting 
for  the  regular  times  of  payment  spread  over  five  years  as  offered 
by  the  Convocation.40  This  the  clergy  refused;  they  even  seem 
to  have  withdrawn  their  offer  of  money  for  a  moment,41  but  it 
was  finally  agreed  that  the  King  should  accept  £100,000  to  be 
paid  in  five  yearly  installments,  and  that  he  should  not  press 
for  payment  before  the  expiration  of  five  years.42  The  Convoca- 
tion of  York  accepted  the  terms  made  between  the  King  and 
Canterbury,  and  granted  to  the  King  £18,840  Os.  10d.43 

But  though  the  king  could  thus  cow  the  Bishops  in  the  Con- 
vocations, payment  of  the  sums  was  not  secured  without  disorder. 
The  Bishops  assessed  contributions  to  these  grants  on  their 
clergy ;  Bishop  Stokesley  of  London  called  the  curates  to  London 
at  St.  Paul's  to  have  their  benefices  assessed;  some  eighteen 
noblemen  among  the  priests  assembled  riotously  and  made  an 
assault  on  the  Bishop's  Palace  at  St.  Paul's  where  they  continued 

SB  Letters  and  Papers,  V,  62. 

37  Wilkins,  Concilia,  III,  724. 

38  Ibid. 

3»  Merriman,  Life  and  Letters  of  Thomas  Cromwell,  I,  93-96. 
40 Letters  and  Papers,  V,  105,  a  letter  of  Chapuys  to  Charles  V,  Feb- 
ruary 14,  1531. 

41  Letters  and  Papers,  V,  105. 

42  Ibid.    See  also  Letters  and  Papers,  V,  149,  a  letter  of  the  Archbishop 
of  Canterbury  to  the  king,  notifying  him  of  the  grant. 

43  Wilkins,  Concilia,  III,  744. 


112  ENGLISH   GOVERNMENT   FINANCE  [408 

for  an  hour  and  a  half.     Eighteen  or  twenty  persons  were  ar- 
rested and  jailed  in  connection  with  the  disorder.44 

The  payment  of  £118,800  was  not  the  only  exaction  made 
from  the  clergy  in  1531.  Many  individual  churchmen  were  ex- 
cepted  from  the  pardon  for  praemunire,  and  had  to  make  their 
peace  separately  with  the  King.  The  Bishop  of  Bangor  paid 
£333  6s.  8d.,  the  Bishop  of  Dublin,  £1,466  13s.  4d.,  the  Dean  of 
Arches,  £133  6s.  8d.  Moreover,  the  great  Churchmen  seem  to 
have  been  very  heavily  fined  for  offences  of  which  there  is  no 
record  since  the  reign  of  Henry  VII.  For  the  escape  of  seven 
prisoners,  the  Bishop  of  Bath  paid  £700;  the  Bishop  of  Lincoln 
for  a  similar  offence  £666  13s.  4d.,  and  the  Bishop  of  Hereford 
for  an  untrue  certificate  of  non-bigamy  which  he  had  issued, 
£666  13s.  4d.45  Three  years  later,  in  1534,  the  Bishop  of  Norwich 
was  accused  of  having  fallen  anew  into  praemunire,  on  the 
ground  that  he  had  cited  the  Mayor  of  Thetford  before  him  in 
a  spiritual  case,  although  the  town  of  Thetford  enjoyed  exemp- 
tion from  the  Bishop's  jurisdiction.  The  Bishop  was  arrested, 
and  finally  pardoned  by  the  King  and  in  return,  made  the  King 
a  "free  gift"  of  £10,000.  Chapuys  suggested  that  his  great 
wealth  was  as  important  a  cause  for  his  accusation  as  the  alleged 
offense.46 

In  1532,  despite  the  fact  that  the  clergy  were  now  paying 
£24,000  a  year  to  the  Royal  Treasury  as  the  annual  installments 
of  the  £118,800  promised  by  the  Convocations,  they  were  called 
upon  for  additional  contributions.  The  Convocation  of  Canter- 
bury sat  during  April  and  May  1532.  When  Parliament  granted 
the  fifteenth,  the  Duke  of  Norfolk  so  informed  the  Convocation 
"and  warned  the  prolocutor  and  others,  that  they  show  them- 
selves not  less  prompt  and  ready  to  assist  the  royal  needs. ' ' 47 
The  Convocation  practically  refused  the  Eoyal  command,  much 
to  the  King's  displeasure,  and  Chapuys  writes  that  he  was  there- 
fore determined  to  succeed,  either  "in  a  friendly  way  or  other- 

4*  Letters  and  Papers,  V,  387,  a  bill  filed  in  the  Star  Chamber  by  Chris- 
topher Hales,  the  Attorney-General.  See  also  Hall,  Chronicle,  II,  200  ff. 

45  Letters   and   Papers,   V,    637,    "  fines   made   with    divers   persons   by 
the  king's  commandment." 

46  Letters  and  Papers,  VII,  171,  270,  296. 

47  Wilkins,  Concilia,  III,  748  f . 


409]  CROMWELL'S  EARLY  ADMINISTRATION  113 

wise."48  The  Convocation  of  York,  however,  granted  a  tenth 
to  the  King.49 

But  already  the  minds  of  the  King  and  his  ministers  were 
beginning  to  busy  themselves  with  large  plans  for  the  annexa- 
tion of  the  temporal  estates  of  the  Church  to  the  Crown.  The 
idea  was  in  the  air  as  early  as  1531,  when  Falier  the  Venetian 
Ambassador  reported  to  the  Senate  that  Henry  seemed  bent  on 
detaching  himself  from  the  Roman  Church  and  annexing  the 
ecclesiastical  revenues  to  the  Crown.50  Rumor  had  it  in  January, 
1533,  that  Cranmer,  newly  elected  Archbishop  of  Canterbury, 
would  renounce  all  temporalities  of  his  See  to  the  King  — 
as  a  good  way  to  force  the  rest  to  do  the  same.51  In  the  next 
month,  Chapuys  understood  that  the  King  intended  to  raise  a 
regiment  of  horse  and  was  going  to  take  the  goods  of  the  Church 
to  pay  them,52  and  a  month  later,  these  rumors  of  intended 
confiscation  of  Church  property  received  confirmation  from  the 
lips  of  the  King  himself.  In  a  long  personal  interview  with 
Chapuys,  he  said  that  he  was  going  to  repair  the  damage  done 
by  John  in  making  England  tributary  to  the  Pope  and  "also 
to  reunite  to  the  Crown  the  goods  which  Churchmen  held  of  it 
which  his  predecessors  could  not  alienate  to  his  prejudice  and 
that  he  was  bound  to  do  this  by  the  oath  he  had  taken  at  his 
coronation. " 53  A  little  later  we  have  a  suggestion  written  in 
the  hand  of  Cromwell's  clerk,  which  points  to  Cromwell  as  the 
author  of  it,  that  Cranmer  write  a  book  defending  the  King's 
marriage  and  abolition  of  Papal  power,  exhorting  the  clergy  to 
avoid  all  ambition,  all  delicate  fare,  and  "to  be  ready  with  heart 
and  mind  to  depart  and  dispose  among  the  people  of  this  realm, 
lands,  goods  and  money."54  In  October  there  is  a  note  of  an 
act  "to  be  made  at  the  Parliament"  "that  if  war  against  the 

«  Letters  and  Papers,  V,  1046,  a  letter  of  Chapuys  to  Charles  V,  May 
22,  1532. 

4»  Wilkins,  Concilia,  III,  748. 

so  Falier 's  report  to  the  Senate  in  1531  (Venetian  Calendar,  IV,  694 
[p.  299]). 

si  Letters  and  Papers,  VI,  89,  a  letter  of  Chapuys  to  Charles  V,  January 
27,  1533. 

62  Ibid.,  VI,  180. 

es  Ibid.,  VI,  235. 

s*  Ibid,  VI,  738. 


114  ENGLISH   GOVERNMENT   FINANCE  [410 

King  is  attempted  on  the  Pope's  occasion,  the  King  shall  have 
for  his  defence  the  moiety  of  the  temporal  lands  of  the  Church/'55 
and  a  document  drawn  up  in  November,  1534,  shows  the  plan 
finally  contemplated.  All  the  temporal  possessions  of  the 
Church  both  of  the  secular  and  of  the  regular  clergy,  except 
property  of  specific  yearly  value  for  the  payment  of  the  income 
of  the  clergy  "were  to  be  made  sure  to  the  King  and  his  heirs 
for  the  defence  of  the  realm  and  the  maintenance  of  his  royal 
state.'*  The  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  was  to  have  2,000 
marks  yearly,  the  Archbishop  of  York,  £1,000  and  the  other 
Bishops  1,000  marks.  Lands  and  possessions  of  all  monasteries 
of  which  the  number  of  inmates  was  under  thirteen  persons 
were  to  go  to  the  King,  and  in  other  monasteries  every  monk 
being  a  priest  should  have  10  marks  a  year;  every  novice  not  a 
priest  £5;  the  Abbot  was  to  have  as  much  as  all  the  others 
together  and  the  residue  was  to  go  to  the  King.  The  King 
was  to  receive  one-half  the  revenues  of  every  Cathedral  Church 
and  one-third  of  those  in  each  Archdeaconry.  The  Commander 
of  the  Knights  of  St.  John  was  to  have  1,000  marks;  the  rest 
of  his  possessions  went  to  the  King  and  at  his  death  the  whole ; 
and  likewise  the  lands  of  every  Commandry,  at  the  death  of  the 
knights  in  possession.  Moreover,  Parliament  was  to  grant  a 
temporal  subsidy  of  2s.  in  the  £  to  be  paid  in  two  years,  and 
a  clerical  subsidy  of  4s.  in  the  £  to  be  paid  in  two  years  "for 
charges  of  the  present  wars,  for  defence  of  Ireland,  for  making  of 
Dover  Haven  and  other  fortresses  against  Scotland. ' ' 56 

Chapuys,  and  John  Hussee,  the  well  informed  London  agent 
of  Lord  Lisle,  Deputy  Governor  of  Calais,  had  expected  some 
such  measure  to  be  introduced  into  Parliament,  when  it  reas- 
sembled in  January,  1534,57  and  they  wrote  of  rumors  that 
some  of  this  confiscated  property  would  be  distributed  among 
the  nobles.  No  bill  was  presented  at  the  session  of  Parliament 
which  began  in  January,  1534 ;  bu,t  during  the  summer  Chapuys 

55  ibid.,  VI,  1381 

56  Cott.  Mss.,  Cleopatra  E.  IV,  174.    The  clerical  subsidies  would  be  voted 
by  the  Convocations,  but  Parliament  would  have  to  pass  a  validating  act 
since  Convocations  had  lost  the  right  of  independent  actions  in  1533  by 
Statutes,  25,  Henry  VIII,  c.  19. 

57  Letters  and  Papers,  VII,  24,  114. 


411]  CROMWELL'S  EARLY  ADMINISTRATION  115 

was  convinced  that  some  such  measure  would  be  taken  up  in 
November  when  Parliament  reassembled,58  and  later,  in  Sep- 
tember, Cromwell  seems  to  have  mentioned  the  matter  to  him.59 

But  even  the  Parliament  which  had*  just  severed  the  relations 
between  England  and  Home  was  scarcely  ready  for  so  sweeping 
a  change,  and  there  is  no  record  that  a  bill  for  the  purpose  was 
introduced.  Instead,  Cromwell  and  the  King  satisfied  themselves 
with  obtaining  the  first  fruits  of  all  benefices  vacant  after 
January  1,  1535,  and  the  annual  tenths  of  all  benefices,  while 
on  the  other  hand,  the  last  payments  of  the  £118,800  granted 
by  the  Convocations  in  1531  were  excused.60  A  new  assessment 
of  the  value  of  all  benefices  in  England  was  to  be  made  by 
Royal  Commissioners.  The  assessment  of  1291  which  had  been  in 
force  up  tt>  this  time  (except  for  the  grant  of  £100,000  in  1523) 
was  finally  overthrown,  and  the  clergy  were  to  be  taxed  on  the 
annual  value  of  their  benefices.  The  new  revenue  was  expected 
to  yield  £30,00061  per  year,  a  sum  equal  to  about  one-fifth  of  the 
revenues  in  1529 ;  and  to  administer  it,  John  Gostwike  was  soon 
after  appointed  Treasurer  and  Receiver-General  and  Commis- 
sioner of  First  Fruits  and  Tenths.62 

As  the  year  1535  opened,  Cromwell  seems  to  have  been  very 
proud  of  his  achievements  in  finance,  and  to  have  expected  very 
much  from  them.  Both  he  and  Henry  VIII  declared  to  foreign 
ambassadors  the  wealth  and  authority  of  the  Crown  and  the 
quiet  of  the  Kingdom,  and  spoke  enthusiastically  of  the  new 
increases  in  revenue.63  It  is  of  course  impossible  to  know  how 
far  these  statements  were  made  for  effect,  and  how  far  they 

88  IUd.,  VII,  871. 

w  Ibid.,  VII,  1141.  Chapuys  wrote  to  his  master  Charles  V,  "Cromwell 
understands  that  at  the  said  Parliament  the  King  will  distribute  among 
the  gentlemen  of  the  Kingdom  the  greater  part  of  the  ecclesiastical  rev- 
enues to  gain  their  goodwill." 

«o  Statutes  of  the  Eealm,  26  Henry  VIII,  c.  3. 

61  Letters  and  Papers,  VII,  1490,  a  letter  of  Brian  Tnke,  Treasurer  of 
the  Chamber,  to  Cromwell. 

62  Ibid.,  VIII,  802,  820. 

cs  Letters  and  Papers,  VIII,  174,  Palamedes  Gontier,  the  French  am- 
bassador to  Admiral  Chabot,  reporting  a  conversation  of  Cromwell.  A  draft 
letter  of  Henry  VIII  to  De  Brion  with  the  same  purport  is  calendared  in 
Hid.,  VIII,  339. 


116  ENGLISH   GOVERNMENT   FINANCE  [412 

revealed  the  real  thoughts  of  Cromwell  and  Henry  VIII.  But 
if  they  expressed  a  genuine  conviction,  it  was  one  destined  to 
be  disappointed.  There  were  troubles  in  Ireland,  the  French 
pensions  were  no  longer  paid,  the  new  ecclesiastical  tenths  did 
not  come  in  rapidly,  and  the  subsidy  granted  by  Parliament 
could  not  be  collected  in  many  places,  owing  to  the  surliness 
of  the  people  and  the  failure  of  the  crops. 

The  government  added  to  its  perplexities  by  the  criminal 
execution  of  Bishop  Fisher  and  Sir  Thomas  More,  together  with 
the  Carthusian  Monks,  in  the  summer  of  1535.  A  thrill  of 
horror  went  through  Catholic  Europe;  and  the  papacy  was 
forced  at  length  to  proceed  to  formulate  the  bull  of  privation 
and  deposition  of  Henry  VIII.  Probably  there  was  no  real 
danger  that  the  Emperor  would  carry  it  out;  but  the  fear  that 
he  would  do  so  was  almost  a  panic  in  England  in  the  latter 
part  of  1535,  and  this  was  heightened  by  the  rumor  of  an  under- 
standing between  the  Emperor  and  the  French  King  in  February 
and  again  in  December  of  1535,6*  even  though  nothing  came 
flit.  The  Venetian  and  other  foreign  merchants  expected  to 
leave  England  and  refused  Cromwell 's  very  generous  concessions 
of  customs  privileges,  offered  to  induce  them  to  stay.65  The 
French  and  German  alliances  were  again  sedulously  cultivated. 
But  above  all,  in  the  imminent  danger  of  war,  in  case  of  invasion, 
money  was  necessary.  It  was  under  these  circumstances  that 
the  conversion  of  a  new  portion  of  the  wealth  of  the  Church  to 
public  uses  was  necessary.  In  July,  1535,  just  a  few  days  after 
the  execution  of  Sir  Thomas  More,  Cromwell  began  the  royal 
visitation  of  the  monasteries  ;66  and  the  first  step  in  the  suppres- 
sion of  the  monasteries  had  been  taken. 


e*  Fisher,  op.  cit.  357. 

es  Letters  and  Papers,  IX,  965. 

GO  Letters  and  Papers,  VIII,  1127,  1130. 


CHAPTER  X 

THE  DISSOLUTION  OF  THE  MONASTERIES 

The  plan  for  the  secularization  of  all  church  property  which 
Cromwell  had  been  considering  in  1534  was  dropped  in  November 
of  that  year,  when  the  annual  tenth  of  the  value  of  all  benefices 
was  granted  to  the  king.  As  early  as  January,  1535,  new  plans 
seem  to  have  been  under  deliberation  for  diverting  more  money 
from  the  Church  to  the  Crown.  There  exist  draft  commissions 
for  a  visitation  of  all  churches  and  monasteries,  and  other  draft 
commissions  for  the  visitation  merely  of  all  monasteries  to  find 
the  value  of  their  rents  and  lands  among  other  things,  dated  in 
January  1535.1  The  plan  as  finally  worked  out,  for  the  suppres- 
sion of  the  smaller  houses  took  shape  slowly.  In  March,  Crom- 
well made  a  note  "to  remember  all  the  jewels  of  all  the  monas- 
teries in  England  and  especially  the  cross  of  emeralds  at  Paul's."2 
Later  during  the  spring  or  the  summer,  the  king  advised  with 
his  council  on  the  question  of  suppressing  the  monasteries,  and 
the  proposal  was  seriously  opposed  by  at  least  one  member  of 
the  council.3  All  that  we  know  definitely  is  that  at  the  begin- 
ning of  June  the  visitation  of  the  monasteries  had  been  decided 
on,4  and  very  early  in  July  Cromwell  be^an  to  visit  the  monas- 
teries in  person  by  virtue  of  his  authority  as  Vicar-general. 
What  his  plan  was  when  he  began  his  visitation  is  nowhere 
hinted  at ;  perhaps  it  was  still  not  yet  worked  out  in  his  own  mind. 
Chapuys  heard  a  report  in  September  that  the  King  intended 
to  allow  the  religious  of  all  orders  to  be  free  to  leave  their  habits 

i  Letters  and  Papers,  VIII,  73,  76,  January  1535. 

2 Ibid.,  VIII,  475,  Cromwell's  Kemembrances. 

s  Lord  Herbert,  Henry  VIII,  424-425. 

*  This  we  learn  from  a  letter  of  Richard  Layton  to  Cromwell,  dated 
June  4,  1535,  asking  that  he  and  Dr.  Legh,  be  appointed  visitors  at  the 
''approaching  visitation."  Letters  and  Papers,  VIII,  822. 

117 


118  ENGLISH   GOVERNMENT   FINANCE  [414 

and  marry.  If,  however,  they  wished  to  remain  in  their  houses 
they  must  live  in  poverty  since  Henry  VIII  intended  to  take 
the  rest  of  their  revenue.5  The  plan  is  somewhat  similar  to  the 
one  suggested  in  the  previous  year,  and  differs  materially  from 
the  plan  finally  evolved. 

The  task  6f  visitation  was  of  course  too  great  for  Cromwell 
alone,  and  he  soon  brought  to  his  assistance  a  group  of  visitors ; 
Dr.  Richard  Layton,  Dr.  Thomas  Legh  of  "satrapike  counten- 
ance," John  Ap  Kice,  Dr.  John  London,  John  Tregonwell  and 
Thomas  Bedyll.  These  men  armed  with  eighty-six  articles  of 
inquiry  and  twenty-five  articles  of  injunction6  visited  monas- 
teries in  Kent,  Oxfordshire,  Northamptonshire,  Leicestershire, 
Norfolk,  Nottinghamshire,  Yorkshire,  Cheshire,  and  Cumberland 
and  in  many  other  counties.  Their  articles  of  inquiry  concerned 
themselves  with  all  sorts  of  details  of  monastic  life ;  but  the  in- 
formation most  desired  was  clearly  the  value  of  the  monastic 
revenues,  property,  jewels  and  lands.  The  injunctions  "con- 
tain the  core  of  a  stringent  and  salutory  reformation,"7  but 
they  were  administered,  especially  by  Legh,  in  a  way  to  promote 
disobedience  or  surrender. 

In  connection  with  the  administration  of  the  injunctions,  we 
find  a  hint  of  the  development  of  the  plan  for  dealing  with  the 
monasteries.  Towards  the  end  of  September,  two  weeks  after 
his  letter  last  quoted,  Chapuys  came  to  feel  that  the  object  of  the 
severe  injunctions,  one  of  which  forbade  the  monks  to  leave 
the  precincts  of  their  houses  was  to  force  the  monks  to  surrender ; 
so  that  the  King  might  seize  their  property  without  causing 
the  people  to  murmur,8  and  a  letter  from  Legh  and  Ap  Eice  to 
Cromwell  in  November  confirms  Chapuys'  surmise.  Legh  wrote 
in  the  body  of  the  letter  ' '  they  will  not  need  to  be  put  forth,  but 
will  make  instance  to  be  delivered  and  so  the  deed  shall  be  im- 
puted to  themselves,"  and  Ap  Rice  added  in  a  postcsrjpt. 
"though  it  were  well  done  that  all  were  put  out  yet  to  avoid 
calumny  it  were  well  that  they  were  dismissed  upon  their  own 

5  Letters  and  Papers,  IX,  357,  September  13,  1535. 
c  The  articles  are  printed  in  Wilkins,  Concilia  III,  786. 

7  Fisher,  op.  cit.,  373. 

8  Letters  and  Papers,  IX,  434,  a  letter  of  Chapuys  to  Charles  V,  Sep- 
tember 25,  1535. 


435]  THE  DISSOLUTION  OF   THE  MONASTERIES  119 

suit.  They  will  all  do  this,  if  they  are  compelled  to  observe 
these  injunctions;  and  the  people  shall  know  it  the  better 
that  it  cometh  upon  their  own  suit  that  they  be  not  straight 
discharged  while  we  are  here ;  for  then  the  people  will  say  that 
we  came  for  no  excuse  except  to  expel  them. ' '  8  The  regard  for 
public  opinion  is  interesting  and  important.  When  Cromwell 
drew  up  the  injunctions,  he  perhaps  had  in  mind  the  restoration 
of  the  monasteries  to  Benedictine  simplicity  and  rigor;  their 
surplus  wealth  being  confiscated  by  the  state.10  But  Legh  con- 
ceived the  idea  of  using  the  injunctions  in  a  way  to  bring  com- 
plete surrender  of  their  houses  by  the  monks.  At  first,  the  other 
Commissioners  protested  to  Cromwell  against  Legh's  severity 
and  strictness,11  and  Cromwell  ordered  him  to  be  less  rigorous.12 
But  he  explained  in  answer,  how  Cromwell  might  "advantage" 
himself  in  gratifying  those  houses  that  appealed  to  him  for 
release  from  the  strictness  of  the  injunctions,13  and  Cromwell 
was  satisfied ;  for  nothing  further  is  said  on  the  matter.  Shortly 
afterward,  the  other  Commissioners,  especially  Ap  Rice  who 
had  made  the  chief  complaint  against  Legh's  severity,  were 
administering  the  injunctions  as  zealously  as  Legh  himself. 
During  the  next  months  many  monasteries  appealed  to  Cromwell 
for  leave  to  be  free  from  the  galling  injunctions,  always  to 
Cromwell's  own  great  profit  of  course;  while  other  houses,  too 
poor  or  too  obstinate  to  purchase  temporary  reprieve  in  this  way, 
were  compelled  to  struggle  along  until  from  very  weariness 
they  were  ready  to  surrender  themselves  to  the  King,  even  be- 
fore the  act  of  suppression  had  passed  through  Parliament 

Besides  making  their  inquisitions  and  giving  their  injunc- 
tions, the  visitors  endeavored  to  get  possession  of  the  monastic 
jewels  and  ornaments.  Thus  Layton  wrote,  "I  have  crosses  of 
silver  and  gold,  some  of  which  I  send  you  not  now  because  I 
have  more  that  shall  be  delivered  me  this  night  by  the  Prior  of 
Maiden  Bradley  himself.  Tomorrow,  early  in  the  morning  I 

e  Ibid.,  IX,  708,  a  letter  of  Legh  and  Ap  Rice  to  Cromwell. 
10  This   was   partly   the   plan   in   1534,   and   is  the   plan   indicated    by 
Chapuys  in  his  letter  of  the  middle  of  September. 

n  Letters  and  Papers,  IX-,  139,  a  letter  of  Ap  Rice  to  Cromwell. 
12  Ibid.,  IX,  265,  a  letter  of  Legh  to  Cromwell. 
is  Ibid.,  IX,  265. 


120  ENGLISH  GOVERNMENT  FINANCE  [416 

shall  bring  you  the  rest  when  I  have  received  all,  and,  perchance 
I  shall  find  something  here"  (at  St.  Augustine's  Bristol).1* 

The  commissioners  or  visitors  finished  their  visitation  near 
the  end  of  February,  1536,  having  covered  the  last  part  of  their 
tour,  including  the  diocese  of  Coventry  and  Lichfield  and 
the  entire  province  of  York  in  about  six  weeks.  Really  very 
rapid  traveling.  But  hurry  was  necessary  since  Parliament 
had  reassembled  on  February  4,  1536.  Its  only  business  of 
importance  was  to  legalize  the  surrenders  of  monastic  houses 
into  the  king's  hands  which  had  already  been  made  at  various 
times  since  the  preceding  November,15  and  to  deal  with  the 
question  of  the  monasteries  as  the  king  and  Cromwell  wished.) 
Since  the  letters  of  Chapuys  and  Legh  and  Ap  Rice  in  September 
and  November  1535,  there  had  been  no  indication,  so  far  as 
the  existing  records  show,  of  the  development  of  the  government's 
plan  of  procedure  against  the  religious  houses.  Cromwell  was 
perhaps  not  quite  sure  as  to  how  much  he  could  safely  take; 
and  it  was  not  until  March  3,  that  a  rumor  of  his  intentions 
appeared  when  it  was  "  bruited  (in  London)  that  abbeys  and 
priories  under  300  Marks  by  year  and  having  not  twelve  in 
convent  shall  down."16  Unfortunately,  all  the  records  of  the 
Parliament  of  February,  1536,  are  lacking;  but  from  various 
scraps  of  letters  and  tradition,  it  is  clear  that  the  king  presented 
the  bill  for  the  dissolution  of  the  smaller  monasteries  having  a 
clear  yearly  income  of  under  £200,  to  the  Commons  in  person  on 
March  11,  stating  that  on  Wednesday  next  he  would  be  there 
to  hear  their  minds.17  From  the  preamble  of  the  act  of  disso- 

i*  Wright,  The  Suppression  of  the  Monasteries,  (Camden  Society),  59, 
August  24,  1535.  The  jewels  were  taken  by  the  visitors  probably  from 
the  fear  that  the  monasteries  suspecting  dissolution  would  sell  their 
jewels  and  ornaments  and  thus  cheat  the  crown.  In  March  of  the  next 
year  Cromwell  received  a  report  that  the  prior  and  four  or  five  monks  of 
St.  Swithin's  Winchester  were  taking  their  jewels  and  selling  them  to  a 
London  jeweller  who  had  been  in  divers  religious  houses  for  the  purpose 
(Letters  and  Papers,  X,  472,  March  14,  1536,  Thomas  Parry  to  Cromwell) 
and  the  same  thing  may  have  been  done  earlier. 

is  For  a  list  of  surrenders  between  November,  1535,  and  February,  1536, 
see  Letters  and  Papers,  IX,  816. 

ie  Letters  and  Papers,  X,  406,  a  letter  of  Sir  Kichard  Whetthyll  to 
Lord  Lisle,  March  3,  1536. 

17  Gairdner,  Lollardy  and  the  Reformation  in  England,  II,  80 ;  Wright, 
Suppression,  38,  39,  a  letter  to  Thomas,  Earl  of  Dorset. 


417]  THE  DISSOLUTION  OF   THE  MONASTERIES  121 

lution  and  from  a  sermon  preached  many  years  later,  by  Bishop 
Latimer,18  it  seems  that  the  enormities  and  crimes  of  the  monks 
brought  to  light  by  the  visitors,  were  stated  to  the  house,  in  order 
to  arouse  the  members  against  the  monasteries;  but  even  with 
this,  it  was  March  18th  before  Chapuys  wrote  of  the  passage 
of  the  act.19  The  preamble  of  the  act  speaks  of  a  great  deliber- 
ation, before  the  Lords  and  Commons  were  finally  resolved, 
and  Sir  Henry  Spelman  records  the  tradition  that  "when  the 
bill  had  stuck  long  in  the  lower  house  and  could  get  no  passage, 
he  (the  King)  commanded  the  Commons  to  attend  him  in  the 
forenoon  in  his  gallery,  where  he  let  them  wait  till  late  in  the 
afternoon,  and  then  coming  out  of  his  Chamber,  walking  a  turn 
or  two  among  them  and  looking  angrily  at  them,  first  on  one 
side  and  then  on  the  other,  at  last,  'I  hear'  (saith  he)  'that 
my  bill  will  not  pass ;  but  I  will  have  it  pass,  or  I  will  have  some 
of  your  heads, '  and  without  other  rhetoric  or  persuasion  returned 
to  his  Chamber.  Enough  was  said,  the  bill  passed,  and  all  was 
given  him  as  he  desired."20  With  this  brief  outline  of  the 
events  leading  up  to  the  passing  of  the  act  for  the  dissolution 
of  the  smaller  monasteries  in  mind,  it  will  be  possible  to  examine 
the  causes  of  the  dissolution. 

The  official  cause  of  the  dissolution  may  be  gathered  very  well 
from  Henry  VIII 's  own  words.  "As  to  the  suppression  of 
religious  houses  .  .  none  was  suppressed  but  where  most 
abominable  living  was  used  as  appears  by  their  own  confessions 
signed  with  their  own  hands  in  the  time  of  our  visitations. ' ' 21 
In  1539  an  "Official  Account  of  the  Reformation"  appeared  in 
England,  which  put  the  matter  more  fully.  After  the  King  had 
taken  the  title  of  Supreme  Head,  he  caused  visitations  to  be  made 
and  finding  the  lives  of  the  monks  and  friars,  especially  in 
small  houses,  to  be  vicious,  all  houses  under  £200  a  year  were 
suppressed  and  the  revenues  annexed  to  the  crown.22  And  in 
the  Pilgrim  this  cause  is  still  more  fully  elaborated.  The  King 

is  Latimer,  Sermons,  (Parker  Society),  123;  ep.  117-122. 
i£>  Letters  and  Papers,  X,  494,  a  letter  of  Chapuys  to  Charles  V,  March 
18,  1536. 

20  H.  Spelman,  History  of  Sacrilege,  (Ed.  of  1853),  206. 

21  Letters  and  Papers,  XI,  780  (2),  a  letter  of  Henry  VIII  to  the  Duke 
of  Suffolk,  October  19,  1536. 

22  Ibid.,  XIV,  part  I,  402. 


122  ENGLISH   GOVERNMENT  FINANCE  [418 

was  aroused  by  the  falsehoods  of  the  monks  and  "for  the  better 
discovering  of  these  hypocrites,  (he)  sent  forth  Commissioners 
into  all  the  provinces  of  his  realm,  to  examine  particularly  the 
manner  of  living  that  these  ribalds  used.  Now  came  the  matter 
fully  to  light  .  .  hypocricies,  murders,  idolatries,  miracles, 
sodomies,  adulteries,  fornications,  pride  and  not  seven,  but  more 
than  seven  hundred  thousand  deadly  sins."  The  King  at  once 
called  Parliament  and  Parliament  resolved  that  these  monas- 
teries should  be  extirpated  and  the  goods  and  revenues  disposed 
of.23 

There  can  be  no  question  that  the  monastic  life  had  sunk 
to  a  low  standard,  and  that  in  many  places,  drastic  reform  was 
greatly  needed.  This  is  clear  from  the  accounts  of  the  visita- 
tion of  Archbishop  Warham  of  the  monasteries  in  his  diocese 
in  1511  ;24  of  the  visitations  of  the  diocese  of  Norwich25  and  those 
of  Southwell  Cathedral.28  Some  years  earlier,  in  1489,  Arch- 
bishop Morton  wrote  to  the  Abbot  of  St.  Albans,  specifically  ac- 
cusing "him  and  his  monks  of  'defiling  the  very  Church  of  God 
by  infamous  intercourse  with  nuns.'  He  names  the  very  men 
and  the  very  women,  and  tells  how  the  monks  'live  with  harlots 
and  mistresses  publicly  and  continuously  within  the  precincts  of 
the  monastery  and  without. '  " 27  At  the  same  time,  care  should 
be  taken  in  accepting  the  reports  of  Cromwell's  visitors  as  true 
to  fact  in  every  case.  The  characters  of  Layton  and  Legh  and 
the  great  rapidity  with  which  the  investigation  was  made 
make  it  extremely  possible  than  an  honest  investigation  was 
not  made.  The  tone  of  the  reports  of  Layton  and  Legh,  and 
of  Ap  Bice  and  London  who  accompanied  them  is  not  sustained 
by  the  reports  of  John  Tregonwell  and  Thomas  Bedyll,  two  other 

23  The  Pilgrim,  by  William  Thomas,  clerk  of  the  Council  to  Edward  VI. 
Edited  by  J.  A.  Froude,  London,  1861,  pp.  43-45. 

2*  Mary  Bateson,  Archbishop  Wardham's  Visitation  of  Monasteries, 
E.  H.  E.,  VI  (1891),  18-25. 

25  Visitations  of  the  Diocese  of  Norwich,  A.  D,  149S  to  1532,  Ed.  by  Eev. 
A.  Jessop,  D.  D.,  (Camden  Society). 

26  Reports  of  the  Historical  Mss.  Commission,  Report  XII,  App.  part  9, 
visitations  of  Southwell  Cathedral  in  the  years  1481  to  1514. 

"Norfolk  Antiquarian  Miscellany,  II,  443,  Editor's  note  by  Walter 
Eye,  quoting  from  Morton's  letter  in  Morton's  Register  in  the  library 
at  Lambeth  palace. 


419]  THE  DISSOLUTION  OF   THE  MONASTERIES  123 

visitors  of  1535,  and  it  ib  quite  out  of  harmony  with  the  reports 
of  Commissioners  who  vere  sent  out  in  the  spring  of  1536  to 
make  surveys  and  valuations  of  the  goods  of  suppressed  houses.28 
The  houses  of  which  we  have  the  commissioners'  reports,  were 
in  most  cases  not  the  same  as  those  visited  by  the  visitors,  but 
in  two  cases  where  they  visited  houses  previously  visited  by 
Legh  and  Layton,  they  found  only  good  conversation  and  living 
where  Layton  and  Legh  found  sodomy,  incontinence  and  desire 
to  be  released  from  the  monastic  vows.29  At  Folkstone,  to  give 
another  illustration,  Layton  declared  the  house  to  be  in  utter 
decay,  the  prior's  monk  maximus  sodomita,  and  the  prior  an 
apostate  and  runagate.  The  commissioners  sent  to  suppress  the 
house  found  the  place  in  good  repair  and  the  prior  a  good  hus- 
band, beloved  by  his  neighbors.30 

After  all,  the  government  had  little  primary  concern  about 
the  true  condition  of  life  in  the  monasteries,  bad  as  it  actually 
was,  but  it  did  want  a  lurid  picture  of  monastic  living,  such 
as  Layton  and  Legh  supplied,  with  which  to  inflame  popular 
opinion  against  the  monks.  For  though  the  secular  clergy  were 
disliked,  the  monasteries  still  held  a  very  popular  place  in  public 
opinion,  due  probably  to  their  charities.  Dr.  Savine  has  shown 
in  his  English  Monasteries  on  the  Eve  of  Dissolution  that  the 
monastic  alms,  imposed  upon  them  by  legal  obligations,  amounted 
to  less  than  two  and  one-half  per  cent  of  the  gross  income 
of  the  monasteries,  and  it  is  his  impression  that  the  voluntary 
alms  did  not  exceed  this  amount.  Probably,  as  he  points  out,  the 
monks  did  very  little  by  their  alms  to  relieve  the  acute  distress 
of  their  time,  they  did  not  perform  any  great  economic  service  j31 
but  it  is  certain  that  the  people  thought  that  they  were  doing  a 
great  deal  for  their  welfare,  and  that  is  the  important  consid- 
eration in  studying  the  reason  for  the  popularity  of  the  monas- 
teries. This  feeling  is  reflected  in  the  reports  of  the  com- 

zs  Letters  and  Papers,  X,  857,  858,  916,  917,  980,  1166,  1191,  reports 
and  letters  of  the  commissioners  of  1536. 

29  The  houses  were  Garendon  and  Grace  Dieu  in  Leicestershire.  The 
commissioner's  report  is  in  Letters  and  Papers,  X,  1191;  Layton  and 
Legh's  report  on  the  same  houses,  ibid.,  X,  364. 

so  Letters  and  Papers,  IX,  669,  829. 

s1  Alexander  Savine,  English  Monasteries  on  the  Eve  of  the  Dissolution, 
239,  241,  265. 


124  ENGLISH  GOVERNMENT  FINANCE  [420 

missioners  appointed  to  take  the  suppression  of  the  houses  in 
1536.  They  were  generally  local  gentlemen  and  represented 
local  sentiment.  The  commissioners  of  suppression  in  Northamp- 
tonshire wrote  to  Cromwell  that  the  nunnery  of  Catesby  was 
a  great  relief  to  the  poor  and  that  by  his  alms  the  abbot  of 
St.  James,  in  Northampton,  relieved  three  or  four  score  folks 
in  town  and  country  round  about  daily.32  The  prior  of  Pentneye, 
other  commissioners  wrote,  relieved  the  quarter  wondrously 
where  he  dwelt,  and  it  seemed  a  pity  not  to  spare  a  house  that 
fed  so  many  indigent  poor.33  Lord  Audeley  the  Lord  Chancellor 
himself  moved  Cromwell  to  spare  St.  John's  monastery  at 
Colchester,  because  many  poor  people  of  the  town  depended  upon 
it  for  relief.34  Finally,  Aske,  the  leader  of  the  Pilgrimage  of 
Grace,  in  his  examination  at  London  after  he  was  taken  into 
custody,  declared  he  grudged  against  the  statute  of  suppression 
and  so  did  all  the  country  in  the  North  in  the  first  place,  be- 
cause the  abbeys  in  the  North  gave  great  alms  to  poor  men.35 
The  monastic  alms  possessed  for  the  neighboring  poor  a  very 
real  value,  which  even  the  Lord  Chancellor  saw.  At  a  distance 
of  four  centuries,  we  are  inclined  perhaps  to  minimize  the 
benefits  conferred,  in  the  mind  of  the  recipient  at  least,  by  a  very 
small  aid. 

Another  form  of  monastic  charity  of  greater  economic  ser- 
vice than  the  alms  was  that  vague  and  undefined  thing  known 
as  "hospitality."  This  meant  intermittent  entertainment  to 
travellers  and  merchants,  especially  in  the  wilder  and  more 
inaccessible  parts  of  the  country.  On  this  ground  Edward, 
Archbishop  of  York,  begged  that  the  monastery  of  Hexham  be 
spared.  ' '  Wise  men  who  know  the  Borders  think  the  lands  even 
if  they  were  ten  times  the  value  would  not  countervail  the 
damage  that  would  ensue  if  it  were  suppressed.  Some  way  there 
is  never  a  house  between  Scotland  and  the  lordship  of  Hexham 
and  what  comfort  the  monastery  is,  especially  during  war,  is  well 
known. ' ' 38  Aske  also  drew  attention  to  the  economic  service 

32  Letters  and  Papers,  X,  858,  916,  917. 

33  ibid.,  X,  563. 

a* /bid,  XIII,  part  II,  306. 

as  Letters  and  Papers,  XII,  part  I,  901,  page  405. 

se  Letters  and  Papers,  X,  716. 


421]  THE  DISSOLUTION  OF   THE  MONASTERIES  125 

of  the  monasteries  in  the  North.  "Strangers  and  baggers  of 
corn  as  betwixt  Yorkshire,  Lancashire,  Kendal,  Westmoreland, 
and  the  Bishopric  was  i  a  their  carriage  of  corn  and  merchan- 
dise greatly  succoured  both  horse  and  man  by  the  said  abbeys; 
for  none  was  in  those  parts  denied  neither  horse-meat  nor 
man's  meat,  so  that  the  people  was  greatly  refreshed  by  the 
said  abbeys  where  now  they  have  no  such  succour. ' ' 37  The 
North  was  less  advanced  economically  than  the  other  parts  of 
England,  land  there  the  monasteries  still  ^performed  a  real 
economic  function  by  furnishing  accommodation  to  travellers 
and  merchants,  and  making  business  and  trade  easier.  But  in  the 
other  parts  of  England,  monastic  hospitality  no  longer  needed 
to  be  depended  on,  and  the  sentimental  hold  of  the  monasteries 
on  the  people  could  be  destroyed  by  reports  of  evil  living  in 
them.  It  is  interesting  to  note  that  just  in  the  North,  where  the 
monasteries  still  did  the  realest  service,  and  where  public  opinion 
would  be  hardest  to  influence,  the  reports  of  the  visitors  were 
filthiest  and  foulest.  That  the  reports  of  the  visitors  were  but 
a  means  to  the  suppression,  and  not  at  all  the  cause,  appears 
further  in  a  letter  of  Henry  VIII  when  he  was  urging  the  King 
of  Scotland  to  suppress  the  monasteries  there.  ' '  The  extirpation 
of  monks  and  friars  requires  politic  handling.  First,  the  Gov- 
ernor should  send  commissioners  as  it  were  to  take  order  for 
living  more  honestly  .  .  with  a  secret  commission  to  groundly 
examine  all  the  religious  of  the  conversation  and  living,  thereby 
if  it  be  well  handled  the  governor  shall  learn  all  their 
abominations."  This  and  other  things  arranged,  "the  suppres- 
sion of  them  will  be  easy. ' ' 38 

A  second  cause  assigned  for  the  suupression  of  the  monas- 
teries is  that  the  monks  were  the  chief  supporters  of  the  papal 
authority,  and  that  to  succeed  in  asserting  the  royal  supremacy 
over  the  church,  it  was  necessary  to  break  their  power.89  It 
is  true  that  this  cause  is  always  stated  in  conjunction  with  other 
causes,  but  it  is  always  placed  as  the  first  cause  and  far  too 

87  Letters  and  Papers,  XII,  Part  I,  901,  page  405. 

as  Letters  and  Papers,  XVIII,  part  I,  364,  a  letter  from  Henry  VIII  to 
Ralph  Sadler,  his  ambassador  in  Scotland. 

3»  See  inter  alia,  Lord  Herbert,  Henry  VIII,  424,  425;  Gasquet,  Henry 
VIII  and  the  English  Monasteries,  75;  J.  Gairdner,  Lollardy  and  the 
Eeformation,  45. 


126  ENGLISH   GOVERNMENT   F'INANCE  [422 

much  emphasis  is  laid  upon  it.  The!  main  evidence  for  the 
statement  that  the  monks  were  the  chief  supporters  of  the 
papacy  and  weakened  the  control  of  the'  crown  is  the  story  of  the 
Friars  Observant  and  the  Carthusian  monks,  and  their  opposi- 
tion to  the  royal  supremacy  in  the  church.  The  Friars  Ob- 
servant had  preached  against  the  Iting's  marriage  to  Anne 
Boleyn,  and  now,  in  the  spring  of  '1534,  they  refused  to  take 
the  oath  to  the  royal  supremacy,  is  required  by  the  act  of 
succession  of  1534.  Before  August  29,  1534,  they  had  been 
turned  out  of  all  their  seven  houses  in  England  and  distributed 
in  several  monasteries  where  they  were  virtually  prisoners.40 
Their  houses  were  given  to  the  Austin  friars.  The  monks  of 
the  London  Charterhouse  also  refused  to  take  the  oath.  On 
account  of  their  influence,  very  great  efforts  were  made  to 
induce  them  to  yield  and  finally,  on  June  6,  all  the  members  of 
the  London  house  subscribed  the  oath  under  conditions.  In 
the  early  part  of  1535  when  the  new  title  of  Supreme  Head  was 
incorporated  into  the  royal  style  by  a  decree  of  the  privy  council, 
the  heads  of  three  of  the  English  Charterhouses,  and  the  head 
of  the  Briggittine  monastery  of  Sion  resisted.  Eary  in  May, 
1535,  these  four,  with  John  Hale,  vicar  of  Isleworth,  were  pub- 
licly executed  in  London,  and  a  few  weeks  later  three  more 
Carthusians  were  burned.  For  two  years  after  this  no  further 
arrests  among  these  monks  were  made,  though  great  pressure 
was  placed  upon  them  to  submit.  It  was  not  until  May,  1537, 
that  the  monks  who  still  refused  to  submit  were  imprisoned, 
and  not  until  June  10,  1537,  that  the  surrender  of  the  London 
Charterhouse  was  taken.  The  story  of  the  suffering  and  forti- 
tude of  these  heroic  martyrs  for  conscience  sake,  is  very  moving, 
but  it  does  not  show  that  the  monks  in  general  resisted  the 
succession  and  the  royal  supremacy,  and  it  does  not  show  that 
the  king  suppressed  the  monasteries  because  they  did  resist. 
It  is  true  that  the  Friars  Observant  were  taken  out  of  their  houses ; 
but  their  houses  were  not  taken  by  the  king,  but  given  to  another 
order  of  friars.  The  Carthusians  and  the  inmates  of  Sion  on 
the  other  hand  were  not  even  turned  out,  and  their  houses  con- 
tinued to  stand  until  as  late  as  1537  and  1538.  If  the  king 
suppressed  the  monasteries  because  of  the  opposition  of  the 
40  Letters  and  Papers,  VII,  1057,  1095;  Wriothesley,  Chronicle,  25. 


423]  THE  DISSOLUTION  OF   THE  MONASTERIES  127 

monks  to  the  royal  supremacy,  why  were  not  the  London  Char- 
terhouse and  the  monastery  of  Sion,  the  great  centers  of  oppo- 
sition, suppressed  at  once  ?  The  punishment  for  the  small  num- 
ber of  monks  and  friars  who  are  known  to  have  resisted  the 
royal  supremacy  was  imprisonment  and  death,  not  the  suppres- 
sion of  all  religious  houses  into  the  hands  of  the  king. 

An  important  part  of  the  argument  for  this  cause  of  the 
dissolution  is  the  assumption  that  the  opposition  of  the  London 
Charterhouse,  and  the  other  Carthusians,  the  inmates  of  Sion 
and  the  Friars  Observant  is  typical  of  general  opposition  among 
the  monks  to  the  royal  supremacy  and  the  succession.  There  is 
no  positive  evidence  of  this.  So  great  an  authority  as  Canon 
Dixon  believes  that  "the  oath  was  taken  in  almost  every  chapter 
house  where  it  was  tendered. ' ' 41  Again,  nowhere  in  the  Re- 
membrances of  Cromwell,  nor  in  other  memoranda  which  relate 
to  the  suppression  of  the  monasteries,  is  there,  so  far  as  I  have 
found,  the  slightest  hint  of  the  opposition  of  the  monks  to  the 
royal  supremacy  and  succession  as  the  cause  for  the  disso- 
lution. Finally  a  comparison  of  dates  still  further  weakens  the 
case  for  this  cause  of  the  dissolution.  The  first  rumors  of  the 
suppression  of  the  monasteries  were  in  the  air  in  1531,  and 
the  confiscation  of  all  church  endowments  including  the  wealth 
of  the  monasteries  was  under  consideration  in  1533,  a  year 
before  the  Observants  and  the  Carthusians  opposed  the  oath 
required  by  the  king. 

While  the  opposition  of  the  monks  to  the  royal  supremacy 
and  the  succession  cannot  be  taken  as  a  very  potent  cause  of 
the  suppression,  it  is  true  that  Henry  VIII,  who  was  very 
anxious,  when  once  he  separated  from  Kome,  that  the 
work  be  not  undone,  saw  very  clearly  that  the  dissolution  of 
the  monastic  houses  made  a  breach  with  Rome  which  was  almost 
irreparable.  When  he  was  endeavoring  to  win  other  sovereigns 
from  the  Papacy  in  order  that  he  might  not  stand  alone  without 
allies  among  the  great  rulers  of  Europe,  he  tried  to  effect  the 
breach  between  them  and  Rome  by  urging  them  to  plunder  the 
church.  Thus  when  Henry  VIII  tried  to  win  France  from  the 
church  in  1535,  he  tried  to  persuade  Francis  I  to  increase  his 

«  R.  W.  DLxon,  History  of  the  Church  of  England,  I,  213.  The  whole 
matter  of  monastic  opposition  to  royal  supremacy  is  here  discussed. 


128  ENGLISH   GOVERNMENT   'FINANCE  [424 

revenues  at  the  expense  of  the  Church,42  and  Sadler  sent  to 
Scotland  in  1540  to  detach  James  from  Rome  in  order  to  close 
Scotland  to  catholic  fugitives  from  England,  was  instructed  to 
urge  on  James,  the  dissolution  of  the  Scotch  monasteries.43 

The  chief  cause  for  the  dissolution  was  a  financial  one.  This 
is  already  suggested  by  the  circumstances  and  events  in  England 
previous  to  the  dissolution  already  sketched.  There  are  further 
indications  of  the  same  thing.  In  tlie  bill  drawn  up  in  Novem- 
ber, 1534,  for  the  confiscation  of  all  the  church  estates,  the 
cause  given  and  repeated  several  times  is  "the  increase  and 
augmentation"  of  the  king's  revenue,  "for  the  maintenance  of 
the  King's  estate,"  defence  against  invasion,  enterprises  against 
the  Irish  and  the  Scotch,  and  the  making  of  Dover  haven.  A 
secondary  motive  is  "the  taking  away  the  excess  which  is  the 
great  cause  of  the  abuses  in  the  church, ' '  but  not  a  word  is  said 
of  the  opposition  of  the  monks  to  the  royal  supremacy  and  the 
succession.  Again,  the  great  emphasis  placed  upon  finding  the 
true  values  of  the  goods  and  property  of  all  the  houses  in  the 
articles  of  inquiry  of  the  visitors  in  1535  and  the  fact  that  after 
the  act  for  the  dissolution  of  the  smaller  monasteries,  many 
houses  coming  under  the  terms  of  the  act,  which  could  pay  liber- 
ally enough  purchased  exemption  from  suppression,  strengthens 
the  feeling  that  the  financial  motive  was  uppermost.  When 
Sadler  went  to  Scotland  in  1540,  he  was  instructed  to  say  that 
it  was  bruited  in  certain  quarters  that  James  V  gathered  into 
his  hands  "numbers  of  sheep  and  such  other  vile  and  mean 
things  in  respect  of  his  estate,"  "therewith  to  advance  his 
revenue. ' '  Henry  thought  this  undignified  and  suggested  ' '  that 
James,  seeing  the  untruth  and  beastly  living  of  the  monks  who 
occupy  a  great  part  of  his  realm  should  rather  increase  his 
revenue  by  taking  such  houses  as  may  best  be  spared  and  convert 
the  rest  to  better  uses  as  Henry  himself  had  done.  Thus  he 
might  easily  establish  his  estate  so  as  to  live  like  a  king  and 
yet  not  meddle  with  sheep  and  mean  things."44  Is  it  not 

42  Letters  and  Papers,  VIII,  537,  a  letter  of  the  Bishop  of  Faenza  to 
Mons.  Ambrosio. 

43  Letters  and  Papers,  XV,  136,  instructions  of  Henry  VIII  to  Sadler, 
ambassador  to  Scotland. 

«*  Letters  and  Papers,  XV,  136. 


425]  THE  DISSOL  JTION  OF   THE  MONASTERIES  129 

possible  that  Henry  VIII  reveals  the  motives  on  which  he  himself 
acted  ? 

Finally  in  Ireland  no  attempt  was  made  to  conceal  the  purely 
financial  reason  for  the  dissolution  of  the  monastic  houses. 
Conditions  in  England  and  Ireland  were  quite  different,  but 
in  each  country  there  was  a  shortage  in  funds  to  meet  the  ex- 
penses of  the  government.  Owing  to  the  disorders  and  rebellions 
in  Ireland,  the  subsidies  granted  by  the  Irish  Parliament,  were 
collected  in  only  a  small  part  of  the  country,  nnd  the  customs 
were  remitted  to  the  towns.45  The  revenues  had  fallen  so  low, 
and  the  need  of  money  was  so  great  that  there  was  fear  that 
the  King's  army  would  break  up  for  want  of  money,  or  even 
mutiny.41'  Honry  VIII  having  spent  £40,UOO  to  repress  the 
Geraldines,  was  anxious  for  a  "revenue  to  repress  such  attemp- 
tates"  in  the  future,  to  stop  the  drain  on  the  royal  treasury.47 
In  June,  1536,  as  a  result  of  such  conditions  the  Irish 
Parliament  passed  bills  to  increase  the  revenues,  granting  to 
Henry  VIII  the  first  fruits  of  benefices,  the  twentieth  part  of 
the  yearly  income  of  the  clergy  and  a  subsidy,  and  with  these, 
the  suppression  of  the  abbeys.48  In  the  face  of  the  disordered 
condition  of  the  country,  the  suppressions  could  not  be  carried 
through  immediately.  But  in  1538,  when  the  wages  of  300 
soldiers  in  the  garrison  were  increased,  the  Irish  commissioners 
were  authorized  to  suppress  abbeys  to  the  yearly  value  of  2,000 
marks,  and  also  to  suppress  abbeys  in  Kilkenny,  Tipperary, 
Wexford,  and  Waterford  and  assign  the  revenue  for  the  admin- 
istration of  justice  there.49  The  circumstances  attending  the 
suppression  of  the  abbeys  in  Ireland  and  the  use  to  which  the 
money  was  put  indicate  clearly  that  it  was  a  financial  measure. 
The  dissolution  of  the  English  monastic  houses  was  analagous. 

The  act  for  the  dissolution  of  the  smaller  monasteries50  gave 
into  the  hands  of  the  king,  the  lands  and  goods  of  all  monastic 
houses  with  a  clear  yearly  value  of  less  than  £200,  on  the  ground 

«  Letters  and  Papers,  XI,  521,  notes  given  by  Brabazon,  Under-Treas- 
uver  in  Ireland  to  Wm.  Body,  to  be  declared  to  Cromwell. 

46  Letters  and  Papers,  X,  267;  XI,  351. 

47  Letters  and  Papers,  X,  1051,  Cromwell 's  Eemembrances. 

48  Letters  and  Papers,  X,  897,  1030,  June,  1536. 

49  Letters  and  Papers,  XIII,  part  I,  641,  March,  1538. 
co  Statutes,  27,  Henry  VIII,  c.  28. 


130  ENGLISH   GOVERNMENT   FINANCE  [426 

that  "manifest  sin,  vicious,  carnal  and  abominable  living  is 
daily  used  and  committed  commonly,"  "whereby  the  governors 
of  such  religious  houses  and  their  convent  spoil,  destroy,  con- 
sume and  utterly  waste"  their  goods,  property  and  ornaments 
of  their  churches.  In  the  preamble  of  the  act,  it  is  interesting 
to  note,  it  is  in  houses  of  less  than  twcilve  members  that  vicious, 
carnal  and  abominable  living  is  foumd;  but  in  the  enacting 
clause  the  possession  of  a  yearly  income  of  less  than  £200  is 
made  the  proof  of  vice.  The  reports  of  the  visitors  give  abso- 
lutely no  reason  to  distinguish  between  houses,  either  on  account 
of  their  wealth  or  numbers  —  they  are  as  bad  for  the  large  and 
rich  houses  as  for  the  smaller  and  poorer  ones.  The  pretense 
that  the  king  was  chiefly  actuated  by  a  desire  to  reform  the  evil 
life  of  the  monks  is  kept  up  in  the  clauses  which  direct  that 
the  inmates  of  the  smaller  monasteries  are  to  be  sent  to  live, 
for  their  reformation,  at  the  ' '  great  solemn  monasteries,  wherein 
(thanks  be  to  God)  religion  is  right  well  kept  and  observed." 
If,  however,  any  monk  wished  to  leave  his  habit,  he  was  to  be 
provided  with  a  pension.  Furthermore,  though  "his  highness 
may  lawfully  give,  grant  and  dispose  them  (the  monastic  prop- 
erties) or  any  of  them,  at  his  will  and  pleasure  to  the  honor  of 
God  and  the  wealth  of  his  realm, ' '  the  new  possessor  was  bound 
to  provide  hospitality  and  service  for  the  poor,  in  like  manner 
as  the  houses  had  previously  done.  By  such  meaningless  clauses 
did  the  king  and  Cromwell  make  the  act  less  obnoxious. 

In  1535  there  were  372  monasteries  and  priories  in  England 
which  had  an  income  of  less  than  £200,"  besides  27  in  Wales.52 
To  administer  the  lands  and  properties  of  the  monasteries, 
Parliament  provided  for  the  establishment  of  a  new  revenue 
court  of  record,  called  the  Court  of  the  Augmentations  of  the  Rev- 
enues of  the  King's  Crown.  Its  accounts  begin  April  24,  1536.53 
On  this  same  day  commissions  were  issued  to  commissioners 
to  take  the  surrenders  of  the  monastic  houses  coming  within 
the  terms  of  the  act  of  suppression.5*  They  visited  the  house 

6i  Savine,  op.  ait.,  App.  270-288.  The  list  here  given  is  worked  out 
from  the  returns  of  the  commissioners  of  the  Tenth  of  1535,  found  in 
the  Valor  Ecclesiasticus. 

52  Letters  and  Papers,  X,  1238. 

53  Letters  and  Papers,  XIII,  part  II,  457. 
6*  Letters  and  Papers,  X,  721. 


427]  THE  DISSOLUTION  OF   THE  MONASTERIES  131 

to  be  suppressed  and  made  a  careful  survey  of  the.  value  of  all 
goods  and  property,  often  enhancing  slightly  the  values  found 
by  the  commissioners  of  1535,  who  had  assessed  the  values  of 
all  church  property  in  1535  for  the  payment  of  the  annual 
tenth.  It  was  on  the  basis  of  this  new  and  higher  valuation, 
by  the  way,  that  all  leases  and  sales  of  monastic  lands  were  made 
by  the  crown.55  The  survey  completed,  an  inventory  was  made 
of  all  the  goods  of  the  monastery,  the  plate  and  furniture,  live 
stock,  grain  and  provisions  on  hand,  and  debts  owing  to  the 
house.  The  lead  was  strippfl  from  the  roof  and  cast  into  sows, 
and  the  bells  were  taken  from  the  church  tower  to  be  kept  to 
the  king 's  use  and  sold  later.  The  movables,  furniture,  crops  and 
stock  were  sold  "at  days"  and  the  money  used  to  pay  the  debts  of 
the  house.  The  jewels  and  ornaments  and  plate  were  sent  to  the 
jewel  house  in  London  and  the  house  and  grounds  given  over 
to  a  royal  farmer  or  to  the  king's  beneficiary.  The  monks  in 
the  house  who  desired  to  remain  in  their  profession  were  sent 
to  other  houses,  while  those  who  desired  to  go  into  the  world 
were  sent  to  Cranmer  or  to  the  Lord  Chancellor  for  capacities. 
The  head  of  the  house  was  sent  to  the  Court  of  Augmentations 
for  his  pension.56 

The  suppression  of  the  religious  houses  once  begun,  it  is  hard 
to  see  how  the  process  could  have  stopped  with  the  smaller 
houses.  Yet  the  dissolution  of  the  larger  houses  was  probably 
hastened  by  the  Pilgrimage  of  Grace  in  1536  and  the  beginning 
of  the  peace  between  France  and  the  Empire  in  1537  which 
showed  the  desirability  of  even  greater  revenues.  To  increase 
further  the  endowment  of  the  crown,  the  remaining  religious 
houses  were  attacked.  The  part  taken  by  the  abbots  of  Brid- 

65  Letters  and  Papers,  part  I,  530. 

se  Letters  and  Papers,  V,  721,  1191;  XI,  165,  274,  347;  XIII,  part  I,  764, 
776;  XIII,  part  II,  168;  XIV,  part  I,  1190.  At  first  all  walls  of  churches, 
steeples  etc.  were  pulled  to  the  ground,  leaving  only  houses  necessary 
for  a  farmer  (Letters  and  Papers,  XI,  242).  But  it  was  soon  found  that 
the  walls  were  very  thick  and  there  were  few  to  buy  materials,  to  ' '  help 
the  charges  of  plocking  down  of  them."  To  follow  the  commission, 
wrote  John  Freeman,  would  cost  the  king  at  least  £1,000  in  Lincolnshire 
(Letters  and  Papers,  XI,  242).  In  June,  1539,  the  order  was  changed. 
The  commissioners  were  to  make  inventories  of  all  superfluous  buildings, 
but  pluck  down  nothing  unless  commanded  by  the  King  or  the  Chancellor 
of  the  Augmentations. 


132  ENGLISH   GOVERNMENT   FINANCE  [428 

lington,  Jervaulx  and  other  northern  monasteries  in  aiding  the 
Pilgrims  of  Grace  in  the  fall  of  1536,  at  once  laid  them  open  to 
the  charge  of  treason ;  and  in  the  early  part  of  1537  the  charges 
were  investigated,  the  abbots  condemned  and  hanged,  and  the 
houses  confiscated  into  the  king's  hand,  because  of  their  abbots' 
attainder.57  At  the  same  time,  in  April,  1537,  the  beginning 
of  the  surrender  of  other  larger  houses  into  the  king's  hand 
was  effected.  The  surrender  of  Furness  Abby,  with  £900  a 
year  in  rents  was  much  desired;  and  on  the  king's  personal 
instructions  the  Earl  of  Sussex  closely  examined  the  monks. 
"When  ''nothing  much"  could  be  found  against  them,  Sussex, 
"according,  having  considered  if  one  way  would  not  serve,  by 
what  other  means  the  monks  might  be  rid  from  the  said  abbey, ' ' 
assayed  the  abbot  of  himself,  and  found  him  ' '  very  facile. ' ' 58 
A  few  days  later,  Sussex  received  a  letter  of  thanks  from  the 
king,  for  his  ''prudent  proceedings  in  the  conducing  of  the 
house  of  Furness  to  the  king 's  hand. " 59  In  June,  1537,  the 
London  Charterhouse  submitted  itself  to  the  king's  mercy,60 
and  other  large  houses  did  so  before  the  end  of  the  year.61 
In  December,  1537,  Cromwell  took  the  question  up  in  earnest  and 
noted  in  his  Remembrances  the  sending  of  Dr.  Petre,  Dr.  Lee 
and  Dr.  Leighton,  with  Sir  Thomas  Straunge  on  a  new  visi- 
tation.62 This  they  began  early  in  January,  1538,  and  during  the 
next  two  years  they,  with  John  Tregonwell,  John  Freeman,  Rob- 
ert  Southwell,  John  Gostwick  and  others  were  busied  taking  the 
voluntary  surrenders  of  the1  larger  houses. 

It  is  of  considerable  interest  to  note  in  passing  how  consist- 
ently the  delicious  farce  that  the  monks  were  surrendering  their 
houses  voluntarily  was  played,  in  deference  to  public  opinion, 
and  especially  from  fear  that  if  it  became  known  that  the  larger 
houses  were  being  dissolved,  they  would  squander  and  waste 
their  goods.63  As  soon  as  Layton,  the  king's  commissioner  ar- 

57  Letters  and  Papers,  XII,  part  I,  127,  130,  490,  491,  590,  666,  1172. 
ss  Ibid.,  840. 
59/&id.,  896. 

«o  Letters  and  Papers,  XII,  part  II,  27. 
«i/feid.,  1119,  1274. 
627&id.,  1151. 

es  The  alienation  of  their  property  by  the  monasteries  in  view  of  a 
probable  suppression  was  extensive  in  1538  and  1539.  See  Letters  and 


429]  THE  DISSOLUTION  OF   THE  MONASTERIES  133 

rived,  it  was  bruited  in  Cambridge  that  he  was  on  a  tour  of 
suppression,  and  that  the  king  was  determined  to  suppress  all 
the  monasteries.  "To  stop  this  bruit"  he  wrote  to  Cromwell 
' '  I  went  to  the  Abbeys  and  priories,  and  calling  to  me  all  honest 
men  dwelling  near,  openly  in  the  chapter  houses,  charged  the 
abbots  and  priors  that  they  should  not,  for  any  such  vain  bab- 
bling of  the  people,  waste,  sell,  grant  or  alienate  any  of  their 
property ;  I  said  that  babblers  slandered  their  natural  sovereign, 
and  if  they  were  knaves  that  did  so  report,  I  commanded  the 
abbots  and  priors  to  put  such  in  the  stocks,  and  if  gentlemen, 
to  certify  your  Lordship  and  the  Council  of  their  reports.  This 
digression  has  hindered  us  at  Westacre,  but  if  I  had  not  sped  it 
before  the  dissolution  of  the  same,  the  abbots  and  priors  would 
have  made  foul  shift  before  we  could  have  finished  at  Westacre. 
Your  command  to  me  in  your  gallery  in  that  behalf  was  more 
weighty  than  I  then  judged. ' ' 64  The  king  himself  promised 
that  if  the  monks  used  themselves  as  faithful  subjects  he  would 
not  in  anywise  interrupt  their  mode  of  living ;  and  when  this  did 
not  quiet  the  rumors,  Cromwell  declared  in  what  seems  to  be  a 
circular  letter,  addressed  to  various  abbots,  "that  unless  over- 
tures had  been  made  by  the  houses  that  have  resigned,  he  (the 
king)  would  never  have  received  them.  He  does  not  in  any  way 
intend  to  trouble  you,  or  devise  for  the  suppression  of  any  re- 
ligious house  that  standeth,  except  they  shall  desire  it  themselves 
with  one  consent,  or  else  misuse  themselves  contrary  to  their 
allegiance. ' ' 65  Finally,  when  the  whole  business  was  nearly 
over,  and  Parliament  passed  the  statute  31  Henry  VIII,  c.  13, 
(which  is  often  referred  to  because  of  its  incorrect  title  as  the 
act  for  the  suppression  of  the  larger  abbeys,  but  which  is  really 
an  act  intended  to  confirm  legally  the  king's  possession  of  such 
monastic  lands  as  had  already  or  should  in  the  future  come 
to  him)  the  preamble  was  made  to  tell  how  the  abbots  and  priors 
and  convents  had  surrendered  their  property  "of  their  own 
free  will  and  voluntary  minds  and  assents,  without  constraint, 
coaction  or  compulsion  of  any  manner,  person  or  persons." 
Papers,  XIII,  part  II,  528;  Letters  and  Papers,  XIV,  part  I,  946,  1094, 
1539. 

e*  Letters  and  Papers,  XIII,  part  I,  102,  a  letter  of  Layton  to  CromwelL 

es  Letters  and  Papers,  XIII,  part  I,  573. 


134  ENGLISH  GOVERNMENT  FINANCE  [430 

The  method  which  the  king's  commissioners  used  to  obtain 
these  voluntary  surrenders,  without  constraint,  coaction  or  com- 
pulsion, was  to  examine  the  abbot  and  monks  of  a  house,  per- 
haps accuse  them  of  divers  crimes,  enormities,  and  even  high 
treason,  and  then  exhort  them  to  surrender  their  property  to 
the  king's  mercy.  The  monks,  sometimes  abjectly  admitting 
the  ' ' enormities  of  their  past  living, "  "or  stricken  with  sorrow ' ' 
in  most  cases  gladly  subscribed  the  instrument  of  their  surrender, 
sealed  it  with  their  seals  and  delivered  it  to  the  commissioners.68 
At  the  same  time  the  monks  were  often  considerably  influenced 
in  their  action  by  the  promise  of  the  commissioners  that  the 
debts  resting  on  their  houses  should  be  paid,  and  that  they 
should  have  pensions,  and  in  some  cases,  solemn  covenants  were 
drawn  up  between  the  monks  and  the  commissioners  to  this  end.67 
Lest  the  activities  of  the  commissioners  should  be  insufficient,  a 
subtle  kind  of  pressure  was  exerted  directly  from  London  by 
Cromwell  himself  in  the  form  of  requests,  which  the  abbots  and 
convents  scarcely  dared  ignore,  for  grants  to  Cromwell 's  favorites 
of  lands  and  manors  which  were  essential  to  their  continued  ex- 
istence as  monastic  houses.68 

Occasionally,  as  at  St.  Oswald's,  where  the  prior  was  in  bed 
unable  to  move  hand  or  foot,  at  Godstow,  Vale  Eoyal,  Ambres- 
bury  and  Henton,  the  commissioners  met  with  a  determination 
not  to  surrender  that  "which  is  not  ours  to  give  but  dedicate 
to  God,"  except  on  the  king's  own  command.69  Later  it  was 
admitted  that  all  houses  except  a  few  which  were  to  be  converted 
into  collegiate  churches  were  to  be  dissolved.  The  commissioners 
were  instructed  to  give  life  pensions  to  the  inmates  of  every 
house  where  the  surrender  was  freely  made.  In  other  cases 
they  were  to  take  possession  of  the  house  and  lands  "by  force 
of  the  last  Act  for  the  alteration  of  ecclesiastical  tenures. ' ' 70 

ee  Examples  are  given  in  Letters  and  Papers,  XIII,  part  I,  42,  396, 
956,  1340. 

67  Letters  and  Papers,  XIII,  part  I,  405,  1073;  XVI,  part  I,  349;  Re- 
ports of  the  Historical  Mss.  Commission,  Eeport  XIV,  App.  part  IX,  271. 

«s  Letters  and  Papers,,  XIII,  part  I,  478,  797,  912;  part  II,  100;  XIV, 
part  I,  205. 

69  Letters   and   Papers,   XIII,   part   I,   409;    part  II,   314,    758;    XIV, 
part  I,  145,  269,  629. 

70  This  refers  to  the  Statute  31  Henry  VIII,  c.  13,  which  had  no  such 
force  as  is  here  implied. 


431]  THE  DISSOLUTION  OP   THE   MONASTERIES  135 

Obstinate  monks  should  have  no  pensions  nor  stuff,  but  should 
be  committed  to  ward  for  future  punishment.71  Yet  with  all 
this,  it  required  the  judicial  murder  of  the  Abbots  of  Reading, 
Glastonbury  and  Colchester  before  opposition  was  broken  down.72 
Even  then  the  great  houses  of  Christchurch,  Canterbury  and 
of  Rochester  held  out  until  March  3,  1540,  when  a  commission 
for  their  forcible  dissolution  was  issued.73 

During  the  same  years  in  which  Cromwell's  commissioners 
most  actively  took  surrenders  of  monastic  houses,  1538  and 
1539,  the  Bishop  of  Dover  with  several  assistants  was  busy  taking 
the  surrenders  of  the  friaries.  They  seem  to  have  been  very 
poor,  because  "the  devotion  of  the  people  is  clear  gone,"  and 
they  could  not  live  on  "the  cold  and  small  charity  in  these 
days."  Many  of  the  houses  had  already  sold  all  their  plate 
and  implements,  and  were  eager  to  surrender  before  their  poverty 
compelled  them  to  sell  the  stones,  slate  and  lead  of  their  houses,74 
though  the  Grey  Friars  so  far  resisted  dissolution  as  to  begin 
the  collection  of  a  fund  for  the  purchase  of  the  confirmation 
of  their  privileges  from  the  king.75^  If  the  Bishop  of  Dover 
can  be  trusted,  the  crown  profited  but  little  by  the  surrender 
of  the  friaries ;  the  houses  were  scarcely  sufficient  in  value  to  pay 
the  debts  and  to  dispatch  the  poor  men.78 

Other  commissioners  were  also  busy  during  this  period  razing 
the  great  shrines  of  England.  Two  years  previously,  in  1536, 
Chapuys  had  noticed  the  desire  of  the  crown  to  abolish  the 
festivals  of  saints  and  images,  in  order  to  spoil  their  shrines,77 
and  at  that  time  a  draft  for  an  act  of  Parliament  against  pilgrim- 
ages and  superstitious  relics  had  been  drawn  up.78  In  February 
and  March,  1538,  "Pilgrimage  saints"  began  to  go  down  apace, 
and  beginning  in  September  the  great  shrines  of  Canterbury, 
Winchester  and  Chichester  were  taken  down  and  conveyed  to 

71  Letters  and  Papers,  XIV,  part  I,  1189. 

72  Letters  and  Papers,  XIV,  part  II,  399,  427.    Cromwell  himself  ordered 
and  planned  the  details  of  their  execution. 

73  Letters  and  Papers,  XV,  378. 

7*  Letters  and  Papers,  XIII,  part  II,  32,  554;  XVI,  part  I,  101. 

75  Letters  and  Papers,  XIII,  part  II,  934. 

76  Letters  and  Papers,  XIV,  part  I,  661. 

77  Letters  and  Papers,  X,  601. 

78  Letters  and  Papers,  X,  246. 


136  ENGLISH   GOVERNMENT   FINANCE  [432 

London.  The  shrine  of  St.  Thomas  at  Canterbury  was  esteemed 
one  of  the  wealthiest  in  the  world;  the  author  of  the  Pilgrim 
says  of  it  rather  rhetorically  "In  the  space  of  more  than  250 
years,  I  think,  there  have  been  few  kings  or  princes  of  Christen- 
dom that  did  not  either  bring  or  send  some  of  their  richest 
jewels  thither  .  .  (It  was)  so  preciously  adorned  with  gold 
and  stone  that  at  midnight  you  might  in  some  manner  have 
discovered  all  things  as  well  as  at  noon  day. ' ' 79  Winchester 
shrine  was  a  disappointment  to  the  spoilers.  "There  was  no 
gold  nor  ring  nor  true  stone  in  it,  but  all  great  counterfeits;" 
the  silver  alone  however,  was  worth  2,000  marks,  and  in  addition, 
there  was  a  great  cross  of  emeralds,  with  other  ornaments.80 
At  Chichester  there  were  55  images  of  silver  gilt,  57  pieces  of 
gold  and  silver  work,  and  3  caskets  of  jewels.81 

Thus  by  the  close  of  1539  the  great  resumption  was  practically 
accomplished.  In  the  story  of  the  suppression  of  the  monas- 
teries, friaries  and  shrines,  as  it  has  developed,  the  financial 
causes  of  the  movement  stand  out  most  clearly.  Behind  and 
beneath  all,  however,  were  the  great  changes  in  thought  and 
the  reawakening  of  spiritual  forces  which  characterized  the 
Reformation.  Henry  VIII  and  Cromwell  may  not  have  been 
deeply  and  genuinely  affected  by  them ;  but  it  was  only  because 
they  had  come  into  being,  and  by  playing  upon  them,  that  Henry 
VIII  and  Cromwell  succeeded  in  carrying  through  their  under- 
takings. 


79  The  Pilgrim,  33-34. 

so  Letters  and  Papers,  XIII,  part  II,  401. 

si  Ibid.,  1049. 


CHAPTER  XI 

THE  REVENUES  AND  THEIR  YIELD,  AFTER 
THE  INCREASES  MADE  BY  CROMWELL 

English  antiquarians  have  paid  considerable  attention 
to  the  question  of  the  value  of  the  monastic  property  at  the  time 
when  the  dissolution  began.  The  best  figures  give  a  net  yearly 
value  of  £135,OQQ\  These  figures  have  however,  little  value  for 
the  purpose  of  this  essay.  Henry  VII  's  income  from  the  monas- 
teries consisted  not  only  in  the  rents  of  their  lands  but  in  the 
value  of  their  goods  and  buildings  which  he  confiscated  and 
sold  and  in  the  money  received  from  the  sale  of  their  lands. 
Moreover,  he  never  had  all  the  monastic  lands  in  his  hands  at 
any  one  time,  for  much  of  the  property  and  lands  of  the  first 
monasteries  to  be  suppressed  had  been  alienated  before  the 
houses  dissolved  later  came  to  the  king's  hands.  The  value  of 
the  monasteries  to  Henry  VIII  can  only  be  found  by  a  study 
of  the  records  of  the  court  of  Augmentations,  where  all  their 
revenues  were  received.  Further  the  concentration  on  the  effort 
to  find  the  king 's  profits  from  the  dissolution  has  drawn  attention 
from  Cromwell's  total  increases  in  the  revenues,  of  which  the 
dissolution  was  only  a  part.  Besides  the  monastic  revenues 
there  were  the  First  Fruits  and  Tenths  and  the  new  clerical  sub- 
sidies. Finally,  owing  to  the  change  in  the  value  of  money  and 
commodities,  any  absolute  sums  which  may  be  named  are  almost 
meaningless.  It  is  only  when  such  sums  are  compared  with  the 
older  income  of  the  government  that  the  relative  importance 
of  the  dissolution  of  the  monasteries,  the  annexation  of  the  first 
fruits  and  tenths  to  the  crown,  and  the  clerical  subsidies  appears. 

Before  1540  the  entire  income  at  the  Exchequer  was  generally 

i  Cott.  Mss.,  Cleopatra  E.  IV,  446-456.  For  a  discussion  of  the  pre- 
dissolution  value  of  the  English  monasteries,  see  Savine,  Valor  Ecclesias- 
ticus,  77-79. 

137 


138  ENGLISH   GOVERNMENT   FINANCE  [434 

less  than  £40,000  a  year,  and  after  a  change  in  the  Household 
and  "Wardrobe  assignments  in  that  year  it  dropped  to  £30,000 
a  year  and  less.  These  sums  were  derived  from  the  firma  com- 
itatus,  such  land  revenues  as  were  assigned  to  the  Household  and 
Wardrobe  (before  1540),  the  fee  farms  of  cities,  the  farm  of 
the  ulnage,  the  moiety  of  forfeited  merchandise,  and  especially 
the  customs.  The  wool  customs  at  Calais  and  such  customs  as- 
signed for  the  keeping  of  Berwick  were  not  however,  paid  at 
the  Exchequer. 

The  clear  yearly  value  of  the  crown  lands  in  the  survey  of 
the  court  of  General  Surveyors  was  £38,080  in  1542,  and  in  ad- 
dition to  this  there  was  paid  and  accounted  in  this  court  several 
thousand  pounds  each  year  of  the  profits  of  the  Hanaper  of 
Chancery,  and  several  hundred  pounds  yearly  of  the  returns 
of  the  butlerage.2  The  net  annual  revenue  of  the  Duchy  of 
Lancaster  was  about  £13,000.3  The  wards'  lands  in  the  court 
of  wards  yielded  £4,673  clear  in  1534,  and  £12,346  clear  in  1546.* 
If  an  average  may  be  taken  from  these,  the  only  available 
figures,  there  would  be  £8,500  a  year  from  wards '  lands.  On  the 
basis  of  these  figures,  the  normal  ordinary,  recurring  income 
of  the  crown  from  pre-Cromwellian  sources,  especially  the  cus- 
toms and  rents  of  crown  lands,  and  other  revenues  based  on 
land,  excluding  the  extraordinary  revenues  like  parliamentary 
taxes,  and  excluding  the  revenues  collected  and  expended  locally 
at  Calais,  Berwick  and  in  Ireland,  was  about  £100,000  a  year. 
With  the  new  revenues  came  great  increases.  During  the  first 
five  years  in  which  the  First  Fruits  and  Tenths  were  received 
by  the  crown,  they  yielded  an  annual  average  of  £16,000;  but 
from  1540  on,  the  yield  fell  to  £9,700  a  year  owing  to  the  suppres- 
sion of  the  larger  monasteries.5  ^  Cromwell  himself  was  concerned 
about  "the  decay  of  first  fruits  by  suppression  of  the  monas- 
teries ; " 6  but  it  was  impossible  to  have  it  both  ways.  The 

2  Add.  Mss.,  32,469.     No  accounts  of  the  General  Surveyors '  court  for 
many  years  previous  to  1542  have  been  found;  but  as  the  income  of  this 
court  was  not  a  fluctuating  or  increasing  one,  £38,000  probably  represents 
tbo  average  income  for  the  decade  before  1542. 

3  Duchy  of  Lancaster,  Accounts  Various,  bundle  24. 
*  Court  of  Wards,  Misc.  Books,  361,  362. 

B  See  Appendix,  Court  of  First  Fruits  and  Tenths. 
e  Letters  and  Papers,  XIII,  part  I,  187. 


441]  THE  REVENUES  AND  THEIR  YIELD  139 

annual  tenth  granted  by  the  clergy  averaged  £29,400  a  year  from 
1535  to  1538  inclusive;  but  after  the  suppression  of  the  larger 
monasteries  it  was  reduced  to  £18,400.7  These  revenues  were 
received  by  the  treasurer  of  First  Fruits  and  Tenths.  To  him 
Cromwell  also  turned  over  in  1535  more  than  £130,000,  probably 
money  received  from  the  clergy  for  their  fine  for  praemunire, 
and  from  other  sources.  The  treasurer  of  First  Fruits  and 
Tenths  likewise  received  the  new  clerical  subsidies.  Although 
the  annual  tenth  granted  by  the  clergy  and  confirmed  by  Par- 
liament in  1534  was  intended  to  take  the  place  of  the  occasional 
dismes  or  tenths  voted  by  the  convocations  in  earlier  times,  the 
government  soon  called  upon  the  clergy  for  special  subsidies. 
Such  grants  were  made  in  1540  when  a  subsidy  of  four  shillings 
in  the  pound  of  the  value  of  all  benefices  after  the  annual  tenth 
had  been  deducted,  was  granted,  payable  in  two  years  ;8  in  1542 
when  a  similar  grant  of  six  shillings  payable  in  three  years  was 
made,9  and  in  1545  when  six  shillings,  payable  in  two  years  was 
granted.10  The  clerical  subsidy  due  in  1540  was  estimated  at 
more  than  £24,000;  accounts  of  the  years  from  1542  to  1544 
show  that  more  than  £18,000  a  year  was  received  from  the 
clerical  subsidies  in  these  years;  and  probably  a  like  amount 
was  received  in  every  year  from  1540  to  the  end  of  the  reign. 
All  in  all,  the  Treasurer  of  First  Fruits  and  Tenths,  including 
the  £130,000  turned  over  to  him  by  Cromwell,  received  an 
average  of  £52,200  for  every  year  between  1535  and  1546,  with 
an  additional  sum  of  more  than  £18,000  for  every  year  from 
1540  on,  from  the  clerical  subsidies. 

In  the  study  of  the  income  from  the  dissolved  monasteries,  a 
distinction  must  be  made  between  rente  and  issues  of  the  lands, 
which  were  true  revenues,  and  the  money  derived  from  the  sale 
of  land,  which  was  in  essence  the  alienation  of  capital  for  pres- 
sing emergencies.  The  net  receipts  of  the  Court  of  Augmen- 
tations in  Henry  VIII 's  reign  were: 

August  24       1536     to     Michaelmas     1538  £  71,616" 

7  See  Appendix,  Court  of  first  Fruits  and  Tenths. 

s  Statutes,  32  Henry  F/jf  c.  23. 

»  Statutes,  34-35,  Henry  VIII,  c.  28. 

10  Statutes,  37  Henry  VIII,  c.  24. 

"  Letters  and  Papers,  XIII,  part  II,  457. 


140  ENGLISH   GOVERNMENT   FINANCE  [436 

Michaelmas  1538  to  Michaelmas  1539  108,028" 

»  1539  to  "  1543  465,68413 

"  1543  to  "  1544  253,3121* 

"  1544  to  "  1545  200,511 

"  1545  to  "  1546  139,152 

»  1546  to  "  1547  66,18615 

In  addition  to  these  sums,  the  gold  and  silver  plate  and  jewels 
seized  at  the  shrines  in  the  monastic  churches  and  elsewhere, 
and  delivered  into  the  Jewel  House  of  the  King  were  valued  at 
£79,471.16  The  average  net  receipts  from  monastic  sources  were 
thus  about  £130,000  a  year  from  1536  to  the  end  of  the  reign. 
Of  this  amount  however,  only  £61,300  a  year,  derived  from  the 
rents  of  land  together  with  small  sums  from  the  sale  of  goods, 
plate  and  bells,  may  be  considered  true  normal  recurring  rev- 
enues. The  balance,  an  annual  average  of  £82,300  was  derived 
from  the  sale  of  land  and  represents  the  alienation  of  capital 
funds. 

Prom  these  figures,  it  appears  that  the  net  normal  income 
of  the  crown  had  been  more  than  doubled  by  Cromwell.  Large 
parts  of  the  additions  which  he  made,  were  however,  at  once 
required  for  the  business  of  the  king  and  state.  Work  on  the 
royal  palaces  and  at  Dover  and  Calais  went  forward  with  in- 
creased vigor.17  After  1538  a  remarkable  increase  in  the  expendi- 
tures in  the  royal  household  began.  The  expenditures  there  rose 
from  less  than  £25,000  a  year  in  1538-1539  to  £45,700  a  year  in 

12  Letters  and  Papers,  XIV,  part  II,  236. 

is  Letters  and  Papers,  XVIII,  part  II,  231. 

i*  Letters  and  Papers,  XIX,  part  II,  328. 

is  Augmentations  Office,  Treasurer's  roll  of  Accounts,  3. 

ie  Account  of  Monastic  Treasures  confiscated  by  Sir  John  Williams,  late 
Master  and  Treasurer  of  the  Jewels.  Published  by  the  Abbotsford  club, 
Edinburgh,  1886. 

17  Declared  Accounts,  Pipe  Office,  no.  3199,  Account  of  Eobert  Lord, 
paymaster  of  the  king's  works,  showing  the  expenditure  of  £59,490  10s.  6d. 
at  Hampton,  Nonesuche  Oatlande,  Mortlake  Syon,  Oking,  Windsor  Han- 
worth  and  Asshere  (1536  to  1539).  For  general  repairs  the  Treasurer  of 
the  Chamber  paid  £100  a  month  on  a  warrant  dormant;  and  the  Court 
of  Augmentations  paid  considerable  sums  for  building  at  Westminster 
(Letters  and  Papers,  XIII,  part  II,  457).  For  works  at  Dover,  see  Letters 
and  Papers,  XI,  1254;  XII,  part  I,  92;  XIII,  part  II,  223;  works  at  Calais, 
Letters  and  Papers,  XIII,  part  II,  381,  842. 


437]  THE  REVENUES  AND  THEIR  YIELD  141 

1545-1546.18  The  suppression  of  the  Pilgrimage  of  Grace  in 
1536  cost  probably  £50,000.  Coming  at  a  time  when  the  new 
revenues  were  not  yet  all  in  hand,  the  revolt  was  particularly 
ill-timed  for  the  government,  and  much  ado  was  made  to  get  the 
necessary  funds  to  pay  the  king's  soldiers.19 

In  Ireland,  though  the  rebellion  of  the  Geraldines  was  tech- 
nically subdued,  much  money  continued  to  be  needed;  and 
during  the  four  years  after  1536  the  king  complained  constantly 
that  revenue  was  being  consumed  to  no  purpose.20  The  Irish 
revenues  were  increased  by  the  suppression  of  all  the  monastic 
houses  in  1538  and  1539  and  by  other  means,  from  a  gross  aver- 
age of  £4,812  a  year  between  Michaelmas  1534  and  Michaelmas 
153721  to  over  £8,000  a  year  from  1542  to  1547,22  and  the  net 
amount  annually  available  to  pay  the  Irish  army  rose  from 
£1,82323  in  1534-1537  to  £3,285  between  1541  and  1547.24  But 
these  sums  continued  to  be  insufficient  to  pay  the  entire  expenses 
of  the  army  and  repeated  appeals  were  made  by  the  deputy  and 
council  in  Ireland  to  the  king  and  to  Cromwell  for  money, 
for  lack  of  which  the  army  at  times  became  mutinous  and  was 
in  danger  of  breaking  up.25  With  the  new  revolt  in  1540,  even 
greater  sums  had  to  be  sent  from  England,  Henry  and  the 
council  having  decided  to  exhaust  great  treasure  to  bring  the 
inhabitants  to  civility  and  obedience,  and  so  "redubbe"  the 
great  charges  already  made,  and  turn  the  island  into  a  source 
of  profit  as  conquered  countries  should  be.26  Despite  the  recent 

is  Exchequer,  Lord  Treasurer's  Bemembrancer,  Wardrobe  Enrolled  Ac- 
counts, roll  8,  membranes  43-47  inc. 

19  For  accounts  of  the  various  treasurers  with  the  king's  commanders, 
see  Letters  and  Papers,  XI,  930,  950,  1093.     See  also  Letters  and  Papers, 
XIII,  part  II,  457;  XI,  624,  724;  Eot.  Beg.,  7c  XVI,  73/104;  Letters  and 
Papers,   XI,    769,    788,    800;    Declared  Accounts,   Pipe    Office,   no.    2074; 
Letters  and  Papers,  XI,  823,  1124,  1152,  1220. 

20  Letters  and  Papers,  X,  105;  XI,  1149;  Carew  Mss.,  no.  98. 

21  Letters  and  Papers,  XII,  part  II,  1310,  accounts  of  Brabazon,  the 
under  treasurer. 

22  B.  0.  Ireland,  Folios,  V,  no.  4.  The  revenues  in  1544  reached  to  £10,124 ; 
in  1545  and  1546  they  fell  to  £8,500,  but  rose  to  £12,056  in  1547. 

23  Letters  and  Papers,  XII,  part  II,  1310. 

24  Ireland,  Folios,  V,  nos.  3,  4. 

25  Irish  Calendar,  III,  47 ;  Letters  and  Papers,  XI,  267,  351 ;  XVI,  42, 
43,  70,  1119;  XVII,  665,  688;  XX,  part  II,  562. 

2«  Letters  and  Papers,  XVI,  1194,  1284.     Between  Michaelmas  1540  and 


142  ENGLISH   GOVERNMENT   FINANCE  [438 

great  additions  to  the  revenues,  complaints  of  shortages  in  the  var- 
ious revenue  offices  are  found  as  early  as  the  spring  of  1537,  with  a 
state  of  embarrassment,  almost  chronic,  during  1537  and  1538. 
"The  Treasury  of  the  Chamber  is  often  without  money.  The 
Jewel  House,  Augmentations,  and  First  Fruits  is  as  ill,  and 
the  Chequer  is  worse. ' ' "  Cromwell  chose  to  pretend  that  the 
stringency  was  genuine;  and  attributed  it  to  the  expenses  of 
the  suppression  of  the  Pilgrimage  of  Grace,  the  continued  costs 
of  the  suppression  of  disorders  in  Ireland,  the  works  at  Calais, 
Guisnes  and  Dover  and  the  maintenance  of  garrisons  at  Berwick 
and  Carlisle.28  A  study  of  the  accounts  of  the  various  revenue 
departments  shows  that  this  condition  was  only  apparent.  The 
total  expenditures  of  the  government  for  all  purposes  were  at 
least  £60,000  less  than  the  royal  income,  and  though  the  various 
treasurers  may  often  have  been  without  ready  money,  as  con- 
temporary letters  assert,  the  king  himself  had  large  supplies. 
For  he  drew  upon  all  the  treasurers  constantly  for  their  surplus 
funds,  and  stored  them  up  in  his  own  coffers.  The  Treasurer 
of  First  Fruits  and  Tenths  delivered  £59,139  to  the  king  between 
January  1,  1535  and  Christmas  1540  ;29  the  Exchequer  delivered 
£15,533  6s.  8d.  between  Michaelmas  1535  and  Michaelmas  1539  ;so 
and  the  Treasurer  of  the  Chamber  contributed  something;  but 
since  his  account  books  for  these  years  are  only  fragmentary, 
no  total  sum  can  be  given.  The  Court  of  Augmentations  paid 
£45,731  4s.  8d.  directly  to  the  king's  coffers  between  the  date 
of  the  establishment  of  the  court  in  April  1536  and  March  154031 

Michaelmas  1547  Henry  VIII  sent  £46,835  to  Ireland,  which  added  to  the 
surplus  of  the  Irish  revenues  for  these  years  made  up  £65,894  paid  to 
the  army  in  Ireland  during  this  period  (Ireland,  Folios,  V,  no.  3). 

27  Letters  and  Papers,  XIII,  part  II,  434,  a  letter  of  John  Husee  to 
Lord  Lisle.     See  also  ibid.,  XII,  part  I,  116;  XII,  part  II,  69,  90,  274; 
XIII,  part  II,  222. 

28  Letters  and  Papers,  XIV,  part  I,  869,  a  memorial  drawn  up  by  one 
of  Cromwell's  clerks,  and  corrected  by  Cromwell  himself  April- June,  1539. 
The  same  reasons  are  urged  in  the  draft  preamble  for  an  act  for  subsidy 
in.  1540  (Ibid.,  XV,  502.). 

29  Landsdowne,  Mss.,  124  f .  137. 

30  Exchequer,   King's   Remembrancer,   Misc.    Books,    69;    Exchequer   of 
Receipt  Declarations  of  State  of  Treasury,  17,  18,  19. 

si  Letters  and  Papers,  XIII,  part  II,  457 ;  XIV,  part  II,  236,  Accounts 
of  the  court  of  Augmentations. 


439]  THE  REVENUES  AND  THEIR  YIELD  143 

and  £73,538  13s.  4d.  between  March  1540  and  April  1541.32 
The  subsidy  and  the  fifteenth  and  tenth,  granted  in  1534,  and 
collected  in  1535,  1536  and  1537,  yielding  in  all  at  least  £77,000, 
likewise  found  their  way  to  the  king's  coffer  in  all  probability, 
since  there  is  no  record  of  their  use  in  any  of  the  revenue  courts.83 
Not  only  were  the  royal  revenues  now  sufficient  for  all  the  purposes 
of  the  government,  but  a  new  surplus  was  rapidly  being  gathered. 
Before  long  however,  the  international  political  situation  became 
so  portentous,  that  more  rapid  progress  in  the  accumulation  of 
treasure  was  believed  to  be  necessary  and  desirable.  The  royal 
purpose  to  achieve  this[  werejnasked  behind  a  plea  of  the  king's 
great  expenses  and  the  inadequacy  of  his  supplies. 


32  ma.,  xvi,  745. 

sa  Edmund  Denny,  the  keeper  of  the  king's  palace  at  Westminster  had 
charge  of  these  surplus  funds  at  least  from  1541  onward.  His  account, 
extending  into  the  reign  of  Edward  VI  is  found  in  the  British  Museum, 
Lansdowne  Eolls,  No.  14.  His  functions  were  somewhat  analagous  to 
those  of  John  Heron  in  Henry  VII 's  reign,  but  he  did  not  become  a  new 
permanent  treasurer. 


CHAPTER  XII 

THE  WAR  WITH  FRANCE  AND  SCOTLAND,  1542-1547 

By  Henry  VIII 's  own  statement,  he  feared  no  one  so  long  as 
there  was  not  perfect  accord  between  the  Emperor  and  the  Most 
Christian  king.1  For  as  long  as  these  two  catholic  sovereigns 
were  at  odds,  no  effect  could  be  given  to  any  papal  bull  of 
privation.  But  once  at  peace,  they  might  unite  to  carry  out 
the  provisions  of  such  a  bull  which  was  actually  promulgated 
in  Rome,  December  18,  1537,  and  divide  England  between  them. 
While  Francis  I  may  have  entertained  such  a  thought,2  it  is 
certain  that  Charles  V  never  did,  because  of  his  multitudinous 
other  activities.  Yet  Henry  VIII  thoroughly  believed  in  the 
possibility  of  a  combined  attack  upon  his  throne,  and  his  foreign 
policy  during  the  last  decade  of  his  reign  was  a  long  series  of 
attempts  to  keep  his  rivals  hostile  towards  each  other,  and  one 
of  them  friendly  to  himself. 

The  beginning  of  the  new  period  in  Henry  VIII 's  foreign 
policy  came  in  July,  1537,  when  a  truce  of  ten  months  was 
concluded  between  France  and  Flanders.  The  cordiality  between 
Francis  I  and  the  Emperor  thus  begun,  ripened,  despite  Henry 's 
efforts  to  the  contrary,  into  the  treaty  of  1539  by  which  both 
Francis  and  Charles  bound  themselves  to  make  no  new  alliances, 
agreements  or  accords  with  the  king  of  England  without  mutual 
consent.3  The  direct  result  of  this  treaty,  and  the  growing 

1  Letters  and  Papers,  XX,  part  I,  1197,  a  letter  of  Chapuys  to  Charles  V. 

2  In  1539  Francis  I  went  so  far  as  to  tell  the  imperial  ambassador  in 
France  that  he  was  willing  to  let  the  bull  of  privation  be  published  and 
obey  it,  if  the  Emperor  would  do  the  same,  and  suggested  that  the  island 
might  be  conquered  by  three  armies  and  divided  (Letters  and  Papers,  XIV, 
part  I,  115,  Latino  Juvenale  to  Charles  V). 

a  Letters  and  Papers,  XIV,  part  I,  62.  During  1538  English  diplomatists 
had  endeavored  to  make  either  Charles  or  Francis  more  favorably  disposed 

144 


441]  THE  WAR  WITH  FRANCE  AND  SCOTLAND  145 

hostility  which  was  being  shown  to  Henry  VIII  in  France,4 
was  a  series  of  negotiations  between  Henry  VIII  and  possible 
allies  —  the  princes  of  northern  Germany,  the  Duke  of  Urbino 
and  Christian  III  of  Denmark.  There  were  also  great  prepara- 
tions to  put  the  country  into  a  state  of  defence  against  invasion. 
Bulwarks  and  blockhouses  were  built  on  all  parts  of  the  coast 
from  Berwick  south;  men  and  money  were  sent  to  Calais  and 
Guisnes;  musters  were  ordered  and  not  less  than  ninety  ships 
of  war  equipped  and  made  ready. 

Though  nothing  came  of  the  rumors  of  war  in  1539,  the  irri- 
tation between  France  and  England  was*  increased  by  friction 
over  a  disputed  passage  and  fort  at  Calais,  and  by  renewed 
references  to  the  pensions,  so  long  unpaid.5  Though  amity 
continued  between  France  and  England  throughout  1540  and 
1541,  relations  became  more  and  more  strained,  especially  because 
Francis  not  only  did  not  pay  the  pensions,  but  made  "no  hon- 
orable offer  of  satisfaction,"  while  in  the  affair  at  Calais,  he 
"showed  a  desire  to  pick  a  quarrel  with  England."6 

On  the  other  hand,  relations  with  the  Empire  were  constantly 
improving.  Katherine's  death  in  1536  had  removed  the  chief 
source  of  discord  between  Charles  V  and  Henry  VIII,  while 
the  growing  hostility  between  France  and  England  made  greater 
friendship  with  the  Emperor  desirable.  In  1541  a  ten  months' 
truce  was  arranged  between  Henry  and  the  Emperor,  that 

toward  Henry  than  toward  each  other.  The  Emperor  was  offered  a  strict 
alliance;  it  seems  to  have  been  suggested  to  Francis  that  here  was  an 
opportunity  to  do  away  entirely  with  the  pensions  which  had  not  been 
paid  since  1534.  Ibid.,  XIII,  part  II,  914,  915,  1087,  1163. 

*  Throughout  France,  Henry  VIII  was  reviled  as  a  heretic.  At  a  meet- 
ing of  the  Council  of  State  the  Cardinal  of  Paris  reproached  him  as  a 
tyrant  for  his  latest  judicial  murders;  while  Henry's  new  bibles  printed 
in  Paris  were  sequestered  by  the  University  of  Paris.  See  Letters  and 
Papers,  XIV,  part  I,  37,  92,  371. 

s  There  were  rumors  in  France  in  the  summer  of  1539  that  Henry  VIII 
had  asked  Parliament  to  help  him  recover  his  pensions  in  France  (Letters 
and  Papers,  XIV,  part  I,  1230).  When  the  French  protested  against  the 
construction  of  their  bridge  at  Calais,  Henry  VIII  asserted  "we  have 
suffered  great  unkindness  at  their  hands  as  the  nonpayment  of  our  pension, 
to  which  they  were  bound  by  oath"  (Letters  and  Papers,  XVI,  174). 

e  Letters  and  Papers,  XVI,  851,  a  report  of  Marillac's,  of  a  conver- 
sation with  the  Duke  of  Norfolk  held  with  him  in  May,  1541. 


146  ENGLISH   GOVERNMENT   FINANCE  [442 

neither  should  treat  anything  to  the  other's  disadvantage,  and 
Henry  even  proposed  a  treaty  of  closer  amity.7 

When  war  again  threatened  between  France  and  the  Empire, 
over  the  murder  of  two  French  ambassadors,  Fregoso  and  Kincon, 
Henry  VIII  was  in  negotiations  with  both  Charles  V  and  Francis 
I,  each  of  whom  was  suddenly  made  willing  for  a  close1  English 
alliance.  The  negotiations  with  France  turned  on  the  French 
pensions,  and  the  unpaid  arrears  since  1534.  Francis  at  first 
impugned  their  validity;  but  finally  consented  to  acknowledge 
his  obligation  for  600,000  crowns  of  arrears  and  accept  its 
acquittance  as  a  dowry  with  the  Princess  Mary,  provided  that 
Henry  would  commute  the  future  annual  payments  due  during 
the  course  of  Henry's  life  to  40,000  crowns,  and  give  this  to  Mary 
as  part  of  her  dowry  as  well.  In  exchange  for  these  releases, 
Francis  would  assign  lands  to  Mary  worth  one  million  crowns 
a  year.  The  perpetual  pension  claimed  by  Henry  by  the  treaty 
of  1527  was  to  be  left  as  it  was,  and  Henry's  successors  might 
dispute  as  to  its  validity.  But  as  Henry  VIII 's  greatest  con- 
cession was  the  remission  of  300,000  crowns  of  the  arrears 
negotiations  were  broken  off.8 

Henry  VIII 's  rejection  of  the  French  terms  was  probably 
hastened  by  the  development  of  his  Scottish  policy.  Of  late 
years  Henry  VIII  and  his  nephew  James  V  had  not  been  friends. 
James  V  harbored  adherents  of  the  old  religion  who  escaped  from 
the  north  of  England;  he  had  refused  to  follow  Henry  VIII 's 
example  by  breaking  with  the  Pope.  His  country  might  be 
an  open  way  for  the  entrance  of  Papal  legates  into  England 
to  preach  revolt,  and  it  added  one  more  to  the  number  of 
countries  which  might  join  in  an  attempt  to  carry  out  the 
Papal  Bull.  War  between  England  and  Scotland  broke  out  in 
1542,  with  an  unprovoked  border  raid  led  by  Sir  Robert  Bowes 
on  August  24,  1542.  On  his  way  home  he  was  ambushed  at 
Haddon  Rig.  Henry  was  furious.  Negotiations  with  Scotland 
which  had  been  proceeding  were  broken  off  by  the  king's  order 
"until  at  notable  exploit  had  been  done  upon  the  Scots  toward 
expurging  the  national  dishonor  done  the  realm  by  the  reports 

i  Letters  and  Papers,  XVI,  910,  1291. 

s  Letters  and  Papers,  XVI,  1351;  XVII,  164,  167,  185,  208,  270,  286; 
instructions  of  Francis  I  to  Marillac,  and  dispatches  of  Marillae. 


443]  THE  WAR  WITH  FRANCE  AND  SCOTLAND  147 

of  the  Scots,  that  Bowes  and  his  men  had  fled  before  an  inferior 
force  of  Scots."9  France  of  course  aided  her  old  ally.  The 
French  refused  to  renew  their  negotiations  over  the  pensions, 
with  the  sacrifice  of  Scotland.  When  the  ship  which  carried 
Cardinal  Beaton  to  Scotland  was  captured  by  the  English, 
the  French  ambassador  in  London  was  so  passionate  in  demand- 
ing its  restoration,  and  became  "so  wilful,  so  proud  and  so  glori- 
ous" that  Henry  asked  his  recall.10  A  few  days  later,  Henry 
signed  a  treaty  of  alliance  with  Charles  V,11  and  in  the  summer 
of  1543,  Henry  actively  entered  the  war  with  France  by  the 
dispatch  of  a  small  force  under  Sir  John  Wallop  to  serve  with  the 
imperial  army  in  Flanders.  In  1544  the  great  invasion  of  France, 
led  by  the  king  in  person,  was  begun. 

The  war  with  France  and  Scotland  cost  in  all  £2,134,784  Is. 
Od.  between  the  time  of  the  first  alarms  and  the  end  of  Henry 
VIII 's  reign.12  An  anticipation  of  the  great  charges  of  war 
as  it  would  now  have  to  be  waged  was  given  by  the  costs  of  the 
new  works  at  Calais  and  of  the  blockhouses  which  had  been 
erected  along  the  English  coast  in  1539,13  while  the  little  border 
raid  into  Scotland  of  1542  cost  £60,129.14  As  early  as  1539, 
Cromwell  seems  to  have  been  conscious  that  the  new  war,  when 
it  came,  would  pale  expenditures  in  all  previous  wars.  At  the 
existing  rate  of  accumulation  the  royal  treasure  would  be  inade- 

»  Letters  and  Papers,  XVII,  925. 

10  Letters  and  Papers,  XVIII,  part  I,  63,  91,  92. 

11  Letters  and  Papers,  XVIII,  part  I,  144,  February  11,  1543. 

12  The  expenditures  were  made  up:- 

The  siege  of  Boulogne  £586,718  12s.     3d. 

The  keeping  of  Boulogne  426,306  19s.     5d. 

Fortifications  and  extra  garrisons  at  Calais 

and  Guisnes  270,765    9s.     6d. 

War  against  Scotland  including  fortifica- 
tions and  garrisons  on  the  border  and  at 
Berwick  350,243  2s.  2d. 

Charges  of  the  navy  265,024     4s.     3d. 

The  expedition  in  aid  of  the  Emperor  in 

1543,  under  Sir  John  Wallop  26,500     Os.     Od. 

Fortifications  and  blockhouses  within  Eng- 
land from  March  1,  1539  onward  203,205  12s.  lid. 
State  Papers,  Edward  VI,  (Be-cord  Office),  XV,  no.  11. 
is  In  the  preliminary  period  1539-1542  these  had  cost  at  least  £74,000. 
"  Declared  Accounts,  Pipe  Office,  no.  212. 


148  ENGLISH   GOVERNMENT  FINANCE  [444 

quate  to  finance  it.  He  felt  it  advisable  not  to  meet  the  extra- 
ordinary expenditures  for  that  year,  for  the  new  fortifications, 
from  the  existing  revenues,  since  such  a  procedure  would  be  a 
potential  drain  on  the  surplus.  It  was  moreover,  desirable  to 
build  up  the  surplus  more  rapidly  by  finding  new  supplies  of 
ready  money.  This  seems  to  be  the  explanation  of  the  ''device" 
which  Cromwell  drew  up  at  this  time  for  the  fortification  of 
the  realm,  according  to  which  every  man  was  to  contribute 
according  to  his  "behavor,"  and  the  names  of  all  wealthy  men 
were  to  be  collected.  Although  Cromwell  took  care  to  appoint 
Richard  Morison  to  defend  his  plan  for  a  subsidy  in  the  House 
of  Commons,15  and  Norfolk  explained  the  king's  necessity  in  the 
House  of  Lords,  the  session  was  prorogued  before  a  grant 
was  made.18 

•'"It  was  however,  soon  demonstrated  there  was  a  ready  market 
and  a  great  demand  for  land,  and  that  money  could  be  raised 
in  vast  sums  quickly  and  easily  by  selling  the  monastic  estates. 
Cromwell  had  not  confiscated  the  monasteries  to  alienate  their 
lands  in  lavish  grants  or  by  sale.  During  the  three  years  fol- 
lowing the  dissolution  of  the  smaller  monasteries,  from  April 
1536  to  March  1539,  the  alienations  of  crown  lands  were  com- 
paratively small.  Estates  valued  at  £11,633  a  year,  only  one- 
eighth  of  the  entire  confiscated  domain  were  alienated  during 
this  period,  by  way  of  sale  at  small  prices,  or  as  free  gifts, 
chiefly  to  men  in  the  service  of  the  crown,  like  Pope,  Sadler, 

15  Morrison  drew  up  a  draft  of  his  speech  in  Parliament  reciting  the 
king's  need.  Of  late  his  Majesty's  charges  had  been  wonderfully  great. 
Less  would  serve  him,  but  for  his  tender  love  which  he  bore  his  subjects 
which  daily  enforced  him  to  new  charges.  Especially  costly  had  been  the 
commotion  in  the  North.  Now  the  whole  country  was  in  jeopardy.  Much 
money  was  being  spent  in  the  repair  of  the  fortresses  and  much  treasure 
had  been  bestowed  on  Calais,  Guisnes  and  Dover,  on  the  rebels  in  Ireland 
and  the  garrisons  at  Berwick  and  Carlisle.  "Let  us,"  he  suggested  "lay 
up  our  sweet  lips  for  three  or  four  months  (which  Cromwell  in  revising 
the  draft  altered  to  "years")  giving  the  overplus  of  our  accustomed  month- 
ly charges  to  the  present  necessity  of  the  commonwealth.  It  will  be  better 
spent  than  in  belly  cheer."  (Letters  and  Papers,  XIV,  part  I,  869). 

is  Norfolk  himself,  on  the  plea  that  shortness  of  time  prevented  a 
giant  at  this  session  moved  the  prorogation  to  another  time  "at  which 
each  would  make  satisfaction  to  his  majesty  for  his  expenses  and  labors 
as  far  as  he  could."  (Lord's  Journal,  I,  111). 


445]  THE  WAR  WITH  FRANCE  AND  SCOTLAND  149 

Wriothesley,  Seymour,  Gostwick,  and  Cromwell  whose  aid  alone 
had  enabled  Henry  VIII  to  carry  through  the  changes  of  the 
past  years.17  In  March,  1539,  a  new  policy  was  adopted  of 
selling  monastic  lands  to  any  purchaser  at  the  good  price  of 
11  twenty  years  purchase,"  that  is  for  twenty  times  the  annual 
rental.  In  the  year  ending  at  Michaelmas  1539,  £80,622  were 
received  from  the  sale  of  lands.18  To  expedite  matters,  in 
December,  1539,  Cromwell  and  Sir  Richard  Riche  were  given 
a  general  commission  to  sell  lands  up  to  a  clear  yearly  rental  val- 
ue of  £6,000,  for  ready  money,  at  twenty  years  purchase. 
Throughout  the  remainder  of  the  reign  great  extents  of  monastic 
lands  were  sold  each  year,  at  first  to  provide  additional  funds  to- 
ward the  surplus,  and  then  to  meet  the  costs  of  war  directly.  Be- 
fore Henry  VIII 's  death  two-thirds  of  the  monastic  domain  had 
been  alienated,19  with  the  return  of  £799,310  to  the  crown  in  sale 
money.20  This  was  one  of  the  largest  sources  of  income  in  the 
course  of  the  war.  The  alienation  of  so  much  land,  however, 
really  defeated  the  object  of  the  sequestration  of  the  monastic 
properties,  in  order  to  provide  for  the  temporary  exigencies. 

In  the  opening  months  of  1540  Cromwell  returned  to  the 
task  of  finding  new  funds  against  future  contingencies,  with 

17  The  value  of  lands  alienated  between  April  1,  1536,  and  March  1, 
1539,  is  constructed  from  the  patents  of  grants,  in  the  Letters  and  Papers. 
The  sum  of  £46,000  in  money,  together  with  certain  lands  in  exchange 
•was  received  by  the  crown,  from  the  grantees.  The  character  of  the 
grantees  as  servants  of  the  crown  appears  from  a  tabulation  of  all 
grantees  between  April,  1536,  and  March,  1539,  constructed  from  a  study 
of  the  patents  of  the  grants. 

is  Letters  and  Papers,  XIV,  part  II,  236,  accounts  of  the  Court  of 
Augmentations. 

i»  Fisher,  Political  history  of  England  1485-1547,  Appendix,  table  of 
total  alienations,  worked  out  by  Dr.  Savine. 

20        April  1536    to     Michaelmas     1538  £  29,847 

Michaelmas     1538     to     Michaelmas     1539  80,621 

"  1539     to  "  1540  91,986 

"  1540     to  "  1541  30,438 

"  1541     to  "  1542  36,122 

"  1542     to  "  1543  105,322 

"  1543     to  "  1544  164,495 

»  1544     to  "  1545  165,459 

"  1545    to  "  1546  72,826 

>'  1546     to  "  1547  12,284 


150  ENGLISH   GOVERNMENT   FINANCE  [446 

renewed  vigor.  The  Parliament  of  1540  assembled  April  12. 
Ten  days  later  on  the  seventh  day  of  the  session,  the  first  revenue 
bill  of  the  session,  was  read  in  the  House  of  Lords,  "for  the 
reduction  of  the  possessions  of  the  Hospitalers  of  St.  John  in 
England  into  the  king's  hand."21  The  houses  of  the  knights 
of  St.  John  had  not  been  touched  during  the  confiscation  of  the 
monasteries ;  but  a  quarrel  in  1540  between  an  English  knight, 
Sir  Clement  West  and  the  Grand  Master  of  the  order,  and 
West's  imprisonment  at  Malta  for  appealing  to  Henry  VIII 
in  the  matter,  gave  Henry  an  excuse  to  act.22  The  bill  met  with 
no  opposition,  and  passed  both  houses  by  May  10.23  Just  three 
days  previously,  the  prior  of  the  order  in  England  died,  and 
the  king  at  once  took  over  his  house  in  London  worth  £3,385  a 
year.24*  The  priory  at  North  Allerton  surrendered  soon  after; 
but  the  house  at  Bristol  continued  to  stand  until  March,  1544.25 

On  May  8,  the  second  revenue  bill  of  the  session  was  passed, 
granting  a  subsidy  to  be  paid  in  two  years,  and  four  fifteenths 
and  tenths,  payable  in  four  years.26  Still  later,  the  third  reve- 
nue bill  was  passed,  confirming  the  action  taken  by  the  clergy 
in  their  convocations,  legalizing  their  "spontaneous  offer"  of 
four  shillings  in  the  pound  of  their  income  payable  in  two 
years,  in  addition  to  the  annual  tenth.27 

In  these  years  of  preparation  against  the  future  war,  there 
was  also  a  kind  of  recrudescence  of  the  measures  by  which 
Henry  VII  had  enriched  himself  at  the  expense  of  his  nobility. 
In  1540  Cromwell  was  attainted  of  treason,  and  his  property 
and  goods  assured  to  the  crown.28  In  1541,  Lord  Leonard  Grey, 

21  Lords'  Journal,  I,  132. 

22  Letters  and  Papers,  XV,  490,  491,  522,  523,  531,  532. 

23  Lords'  Journal,  I,  136;  Statutes,  32  Henry  VIII,  e.  24. 

2*  The  figure  is  given  in  Stowe's  Survey  of  London,  (Ed.  by  Kingsford), 
II,  84.  Letters  and  Papers,  XV,  646. 

25  Letters  and  Papers,  XIX,  part  I,  157. 

26  Statutes,  32  Henry  VIII,  c.  50. 

27  The  convocation  of  York  made  the   grant  in  consideration  of  their 
deliverance   from   the   yoke    or   Borne,    and    the    king's    excessive    charges 
upon  havens,  blockhouses  and  fortresses    (Letters  and  Papers,  XVI,  64). 
For  the  grant  of  Canterbury  see  Wilkins,  III,  850.     The  enabling  act  is 
Statutes,  32  Henry  VIII,  c.  51. 

28  Though  these  included  £7,000  in  money  and  as  much  more  in  plate, 
crosses   and    chalices,    they   were   not   of    such    value    as    people    thought; 


447]  THE  WAR  WITH  FRANCE  AND  SCOTLAND  151 

the  Countess  of  Salisbury,  Sir  John  Neville  the  leader  of  the 
abortive  revolt  in  Yorkshire,  with  60  of  his  followers,  Lord  Dacre 
of  the  South  with  5,000  ducats  a  year,  and  a  Mr.  Mantell  with 
12,000  ducats  a  year,  as  Chapuys  remarked  with  a  sly  dig  at  the 
real  reason  for  their  fate,  were  executed  on  various  charges 
and  their  lands  added  to  the  royal  estates.29  Lord  Dacre 's  lands 
were  found  to  be  entailed,  and  the  king's  justices  and  learned 
council  agreed  that  they  ought  not  to  be  forfeited,  but  that  the 
king  should  have  the  wardship  of  the  heir  and  the  custody  of 
the  lands  until  he  became  of  age,  because  part  of  the  lands  were 
held  in  capite.  But  the  king  thought  that  the  will  of  Lord 
Dacre 's  grandfather  "should  not  be  so  perfect"  but  that  he 
might  confiscate  that  part  of  Dacre 's  lands  held  in  fee  and  still 
have  wardship  of  the  rest  and  have  the  entail  avoid  all  escheats.30 
At  the  close  of  the  year,  when  the  misdemeanors  of  Queen  Kath- 
erine  Howard  brought  more  worthy  people  to  their  end,  the 
council  showed  an  indecent  haste  and  eagerness  —  to  say  the 
least  —  to  seize  their  goods.  They  feared,  for  instance,  that 
as  the  Duchess  of  Norfolk  was  old  and  testy  she  might  take  her 
commital  so  hard  as  to  endanger  her  life.  And  so  it  was  better 
to  indict  her  and  the  others  at  once,  "whereby  Parliament  shall 
have  better  ground  to  confiscate  their  goods  if  any  of  them  should 
die  before  the  attainder. ' ' 31 

The  collection  of  the  lay  subsidy  and  of  the  fifteenths  and  tenths 
in,  February,  1541,  and  February,  1542,  had  netted  £153,500  ;32 
very  large  sums  were  received  from  the  land  sales  and  the 
clerical  subsidies.  But  "to  furnish  the  treasure  requisite  in  the 
event  of  war,"  in  March,  1542,  it  was  determined  to  practice 
a  benevolent  loan.  Eenewed  emphasis  was  put  upon  the  king's 
expenditures  for  the  fortifications  of  the  realm  and  the  great 
amount  needed  to  complete  them.  True  a  subsidy  had  just  been 
collected,  but  this  was  much  less  than  the  king's  charges.  The 
although  too  much  for  a  ' '  compaignon  de  telle  estoffe,"  according  to  a 
letter  from  Marillac,  the  French  ambassador  in  London  to  Montmorency, 
June  23,  1540  (Letters  and  Papers,  XV,  804). 

29  Letters  and  Papers,  XVI,  954. 

so  Letters  and  Papers,  XVI,  978,  1019. 

si  Letters  and  Papers,  XVI,  1433.  For  other  instances  of  the  same 
spirit  see  Letters  and  Papers,  XVI,  1422,  1437. 

32 Exchequer,  Lord  Treasurer's  Remembrancer,  Subsidy  Eolls,  43,  44. 


152  ENGLISH   GOVERNMENT  FINANCE  [448 

commissioners  were  even  to  admit  that  the  king  had  considerable 
treasure,  but  considering  the  daily  preparation  made  by  the 
Emperor  and  France,  "and  the  motions  threatened  by  the 
Turks,"  they  were  to  disclose  the  "unwisdom"  of  drawing  upon 
that  at  this  time,  lest  "he  might  be  disfurnished  against  any  sud- 
den event  by  outward  parts  or  otherwise. ' ' 33  Both  Chapuys  and 
Marillac  wondered  greatly  about  the  purpose  of  the  new  levy, 
"considering  the  great  accumulations  of  money  he  has  from  the 
spoils  of  the  abbeys,  the  confiscation  of  the  goods  of  so  many 
lords  for  treason,  the  long  time  he  has  been  exempt  from  war 
and  the  imposition  of  the  above  mentioned  tax"  (the  subsidy 
of  1540 ).3*  Neither  of  these  ambassadors  with  all  their  exper- 
ience saw  so  clearly  the  probable  costs  of  the  next  war  as  did 
Henry  and  his  council. 

The  success  of  the  subsidies  in  the  past  two  years  and  of  the 
loan  of  1542  led  Henry  to  resort  to  them  again  in  1543.  Par- 
liament granted  a  lay  subsidy  and  confirmed  a  clerical  subsidy 
without  any  opposition.35  The  lending  of  40,000  ducats  to  the 
Emperor  in  the  summer  of  the  year  was  used  as  a  reason  for 
asking  for  a  new  loan,  under  the  name  of  Devotion  money, 
from  the  people.  The  king  gave  orders  at  this  time  that  for 
six  weeks  all  curates  preach  and  exhort  contributions  to  aid 
against  the  Turks,  in  place  of  what  used  to  be  given  for  bulls 
and  indulgencies.  Chapuys  wrote  to  his  master  that  it  was 
expected  that  three  or  four  times  40,000  ducats  would  be  raised. 
If  there  was  any  such  hope,  it  was  disappointed,  for  the  entire 
collection  of  the  "Devotion  money"  was  only  £1,903  8s.  3d.36 

As  the  plans  for  the  invasion  of  France  in  the  summer  of 
1544  with  42,000  men  were  maturing,  Wriothesley  and  Paget, 
members  of  the  council,  assumed  the  chief  burden  of  respon- 
sibility for  finances.  They  took  careful  survey  of  the  situation 
at  the  beginning  of  the  year.  They  estimated  that  the  cam- 
paign in  France  would  cost  £250,000.  There  was  immediately 

SB  Letters  and  Papers,  XVII,  194. 

s*  Letters  and  Papers,  XVII,  235,  338,  Marillac  to  Francis  I,  Ibid., 
280,  Chapuys  to  Granvelle. 

85  Lords'  Journal,  I,  213,  215. 

3«  Exchequer,  Lord  Treasurer 's  Bemembrancer,  Miscellaneous  Rolls, 
2/23.  See  also  Letters  and  Papers,  XVIII,  part  I,  955;  XVIII,  part  II, 
315. 


449]  THE  WAR  WITH  FRANCE  AND  SCOTLAND  153 

available  from  the  revenues  without  considering  the  money  in 
the  king's  chests  or  the  loan  of  1542  in  Mr.  Pekham's  hands, 
but  including  £50,000  which  could  be  borrowed  in  Flanders, 
£134,000.  The  sum  lacking,  £116,000,  they  hoped  to  raise  by 
various  extraordinary  means,  so  as  not  to  have  to  draw  on  the 
surplus.  The  sale  of  land,  the  sale  of  lead  from  the  monastic 
houses  or  the  pledge  of  lead  for  loans,  levies  on  English  and 
foreign  merchants  and  on  those  in  the  king's  fee,  the  profits  of 
the  mint  and  of  the  issues  of  debts  due  the  crown  were  suggested 
by  Wriothesley  as  satisfactory  for  his  purposes.87 

On  March  1,  1544  to  take  the  first  plan  for  bringing  in  more 
money,  a  commission  was  issued  to  William  Paulett,  Wriothes- 
ley, Riche  and  Robert  Southwell  to  sell  the  king's  lands  and 
the  lead  from  the  roofs  of  the  conventual  houses  which  had 
been  lying  in  storage  since  the  dissolution  of  the  monasteries, 
and  to  conclude  with  subjects  for  fines  and  "incombes"  for 
leases,  for  manumission  of  bondmen  and  for  the  sale  of  wards.88 
The  number  of  sales  was  expected  to  be  so  large,  that  power 
was  granted  to  sign  patents  with  the  king's  stamp.  In  April, 
Sir  Anthony  St.  Leger  received  a  commission  to  sell  and  lease 
the  royal  possessions  in  Ireland,39  in  order  to  relieve  pressure 
for  money  from  that  quarter ;  and  in  July,  Wriothesley  and  others 
were  commissioned  to  sign  grants  of  land  to  citizens  of  London 
who  had  advanced  certain  money  to  the  king  on  condition  that 
the  king  might  redeem  the  lands  within  one  year.10  The  old  acts 
of  Henry  VII  that  all  who  had  grants  of  land  from  the  king 
or  who  held  any  crown  office  or  annuity  must  attend  the  king 
in  person  on  his  military  expeditions  were  again  enforced; 
but  persons  desiring  to  compound  for  such  attendance  were 

3T  Letters  and  Papers,  XIX,  part  I,  272,  a  memorandum  of  finances 
drawn  up  by  Wriothesley  in  1544. 

as  Letters  and  Papers,  XIX,  part  I,  278  (4),  (5),  (67).  The  commis- 
sion began  "For  the  accomplishment  of  this  enterprise  (of  a  war  against 
France)  it  is  expedient  to  prepare  a  mass  of  money  by  sale  of  the  king's 
possessions  because  he  will  not  at  present  molest  his  loving  subjects  for 
money  unless  thereto  caocted."  This  commission  was  resumed  in 
June  and  re-issued  in  a  slightly  different  form  to  Sir  John  Baker  and 
others  (Letters  and  Papers,  XIX,  part  I,  812  [77]). 

39  Letters  and  Papers,  XIX,  part  I,  443  (7). 

*o  Letters  and  Papers,  XIX,  part  I,  1035  (87). 


154  ENGLISH   GOVERNMENT   FINANCE  [450 

enabled  to  do  so.41  All  these  opportunities  were  taken  advantage 
of  by  the  English  people.  Before  Michaelmas,  3544,  £5,776 
had  been  received  at  the  court  of  Augmentations  as  composition 
for  exemption  from  attending  the  king,  and  £22,616  from  the 
sale  of  mortgages  to  the  citizens  of  London,  while  £164,495  was 
realized  from  the  sale  of  lands  from  Michaelmas,  1543,  to  Mich- 
aelmas, 1544.42 

But  the  sale  of  lands  and  privileges  were  not  alone  relied  upon. 
Like  governments  of  modern  times,  the  English  government 
resorted  to  loans  from  the  rich  bankers  and  merchants  in  Fland- 
ers and  Germany.  Stephen  Vaughan  was  the  English  agent  in 
Antwerp  for  negotiating  these  loans,  and  he  succeeded  in  bor- 
rowing 210,000  crowns  in  1544.  Though  the  sum  was  small 
compared  with  the  costs  of  the  war  during  the  year,  it  was 
more  than  a  year's  revenue  at  the  beginning  of  Henry  VII 's 
reign.  It  was  used  to  provide  for  merely  incidental  expenses, 
like  the  wages  of  German  mercenaries  whom  Henry  VIII  had 
hired  and  from  whom  he  received  practically  no  service,  and 
the  purchase  of  ordnance,  gunpowder  and  grain.43 

The  third  means  taken  to  raise  money  in  1544  was  the  debase- 
ment of  the  currency.  Color  of  justification  was  sought  in  the 
excuse  that  the  debasement  of  the  coinage  in  Flanders  and 
France  caused  money  to  be  carried  out  of  England  notwithstand- 
ing the  king's  command  to  the  officers  of  the  ports  to  enforce 
the  statutes  against  this,  so  that  the  only  remedy  appeared  to 
be  the  enhancing  of  the  value  of  silver  and  gold  within  the 
realm.44  This  cause  had  probably  been  the  valid  ground  for 
earlier  changes  in  the  value  of  gold  and  silver  by  Henry  VIII, 
even  as  late  as  the  alterations  in  the  coinage  of  1542.  The  great 
sums  of  money  needed  by  the  king  at  this  time  however,  together 
with  two  papers  in  Wriothesley's  hand,  counting  upon  the  mint 
for  a  large  portion  of  the  money  estimated  to  be  needed  for  the 

«  Letters  and  Papers,  XIX,  part  I,  1035  (86). 

« Letters  and  Papers,  XIX,  part  II,  328,  accounts  of  the  court  of 
Augmentations.  In  the  next  year  £165,460  was  received  from  land  sales, 
and  in  the  year  ending  Michaelmas  1546,  £72,826.  Augmentations  Office, 
Treasurer's  Eoll  of  Accounts,  no.  3. 

«  The  loans  in  Flanders  are  treated  separately,  in  Chapter  XIII. 

4*  Letters  and  Papers,  XIX,  part  I,  513,  the  proclamation  of  debase- 
ment, May  6,  1544. 


451]  THE  WAR  WITH  PRANCE  AND  SCOTLAND  155 

year,  and  calculating  the  king's  gain  by  the  debasement,  leave 
no  doubt  about  the  real  reason  for  the  step.45  The  mint  was 
reorganized,  with  Edmund  Pekham  already  well  known  in  con- 
nection with  the  loan  of  1542,  as  High  Treasurer  of  the  Mint. 
From  this  time  forward  for  many  years  the  profits  of  the  mint 
arising  from  the  coinage  of  debased  money  became  the  great 
"shot  anchor"  of  the  government,  furnishing  it  with  even  more 
money  than  did  the  sale  of  monastic  lands.46 

The  campaign  of  1544  belied  Wriothesley 's  greatest  expecta- 
tions. It  cost  not  £250,000,  but  nearer  £650,000.  It  consumed 
not  only  the  new  extraordinary  funds  and  the  revenues  counted 
upon  as  available  early  in  the  year,  but  it  seems  to  have  drained 
the  surplus  as  well.  As  the  fall  of  1544  came  on,  the  king  was 
clearly  ill-furnished  with  funds.  When  money  was  sent  to  the 
army  in  the  North  in  October,  1544,  Shrewsbury  the  king 's  lieu- 
tenant was  requested  to  use  all  the  husbandry  he  might.47  At 
this  same  time,  Richard  Riche,  treasurer  of  the  armies  in  France, 
was  compelled  to  borrow  money  in  order  to  pay  his  soldiers  the 
wages  due  them.  According  to  his  letters,  for  lack  of  money 
"the  poor  soldiers  do  here  die  daily  at  Calais  of  the  plague 
and  also  of  weakness  for  lack  of  victual." 

Since  the  king  was  determined  to  keep  Boulogne,  the  financial 
ministers,  Wriothesley  and  Paget  were  compelled  to  turn  their 
hands  to  raising  for  the  year  1545  enough  money  to  meet  the 
entire  costs  of  the  year's  campaign,  without  help  from  reserve 
funds.  But  this  was  supposed  to  be  an  easy  task,  since  the 
expenditures  of  the  year  would  be  light.  With  a  blind  optimism 
Paget  estimated  in  November,  1544,  that  the  war  during  the 
first  six  months  of  the  new  year  would  take  £90,000,  to  be  ex- 
pended chiefly  at  Calais,  Guisnes  and  Boulogne.  The  subsidy 
would  yield  £100,000,  less  £40,000  "for  the  debt"  (in  Flanders). 
There  would  therefore  be  lacking  £64,000  (sic),  which  must  be 
provided.  A  benevolence  was  much  surer  and  quicker  than  a 
new  Parliamentary  grant  —  and  a  benevolence  would  not  only 
provide  the  shortage  of  the  first  six  months  of  1545,  but  would 
leave  a  balance  of  £50,000  available  for  the  charges  of  the 

« "Wriothesley 'a  papers  are  found  in  Letters  and  Papers,  XIX,  part  I, 
272  (2),  513  (5). 

*6  The  debasement  ia  studied  separately  in  detail  in  chapter  XIII. 
4*  Letters  and  Papers,  XIX,  part  II,  510. 


156  ENGLISH   GOVERNMENT   FINANCE  [452 

second  half  of  the  year.48  What  Paget  did  not  foresee  or  cal- 
culate on  was  that  Boulogne  would  cost  the  country  not  £6,000, 
but  £13,000  a  month;  that  the  Scotch  would  inflict  a  severe 
defeat  upon  Sir  Ralph  Eure  in  February,  1545,  which  would 
make  it  necessary  to  send  a  great  expeditionary  force  to  Scot- 
land under  Hertford  in  September,  to  desolate  their  country 
and  to  strike  terror  into  their  souls;  or  that  France  having 
made  peace  with  the  Empire,  would  plan  to  invade  England  in 
the  spring  of  1545,  and  that  to  face  this  invasion  England  would 
have  to  make  ready  the  greatest  fleet  which  had  ever  sailed 
under  the  flag  and  three  armies  of  60,000  men.*9 

All  these  causes  necessitated  the  expenditure  of  £560,000 
between  Michaelmas,  1544,  and  September  8,  1545.50  To  meet 
these  very  great  payments  crown  lands  were  thrown  upon  the 
market  in  even  larger  quantities  than  before.  Stephen  Vaughan 
borrowed  £128,929  Flemish  from  the  Fuggers  and  Italian  mer- 
chants. A  little  more  alloy  and  a  little  less  gold  and  silver 
were  put  into  the  coins.  The  practice  was  developed  of  borrow- 
ing from  the  mint.  Merchants  came  with  their  bullion  to  have 
it  coined;  for  the  coined  money  they  were  obliged  to  wait  three 
and  four  months ;  meantime  it  was  being  used  by  the  government. 
The  mint  was  indeed  "our  holy  anchor."  Despite  Pekham's 
protests  that  no  more  be  borrowed  until  all  that  had  previously 
been  borrowed  be  repaid,  and  despite  the  councillors'  fears 
that  if  the  news  should  come  out  that  men's  coming  hither 
be  thus  employed,  it  would  make  them  withdraw  their  resort, 
the  loans  from  the  mint  were  continued  until  they  had  reached 
100,000  marks.51  Part  of  the  subsidy  due  in  February,  1546, 
was  collected  by  anticipation.52  The  confiscation  of  the  service 
silver  in  the  parish  churches  was  even  considered,53  but  Paget 

« Letters  and  Papers,  XIX,  part  II,  689,  a  paper  in  Paget 'a  hand 
November,  1544. 

«  Letters  and  Papers,  XX,  part  II,  558.  The  charges  at  Boulogne  from 
September  27,  1544,  to  October  9,  1545,  were  £152,500  (Letters  and 
Papers,  XX,  part  I,  1078,  986,  856,  926,  958). 

so  Letter*  and  Papers,  XX,  part  II,  324,  Wriothesley  to  Paget,  in  a 
letter  commenting  upon  the  reports  of  the  treasurers  he  has  just  received. 

si  Letters  and  Papers,  XX,  part  II,  746,  749,  453,  729. 

52  Letters  and  Papers,  XX,  part  I,  675. 

53  Letters  and  Papers,  XX,  part  I,  16,  January,  1545.     Hertford  ap- 
proved the  plan  (Ibid.,  1145). 


453]  THE  WAR  WITH  FRANCE  AND  SCOTLAND  157 

stayed  his  hand.  Finally  the  confiscation  of  the  chantry  wealth 
—  logically  the  next  of  the  church's  accumulations  to  be  attacked, 
was  authorized  by  Parliament  in  November,  1545,  with  a  frank 
recognition  of  the  purpose  of  the  measure.54  During  the  year 
many  of  the  chantries  were  taken  over  by  the  crown,  even  before 
the  act  was  passed;  but  probably  because  they  did  not  provide 
ready  money  most  of  them  were  left  intact  at  the  time  of  Henry's 
death. 

Though  vast  sums  were  received  from  all  these  measures, 
money  was  spent  more  quickly  than  it  came  in ;  and  Wriothesley 
and  Paget  more  than  once  lost  their  tempers  when  ever  new 
demands  came  to  them  from  the  Council.  In  September,  for 
example,  Wriothesley  received  a  letter  from  the  Council,  noting 
the  levying  of  4,300  new  men  for  the  relief  of  Boulogne,  desiring 
preparation  of  money  for  their  coats  and  conducts.  "As  to  mon- 
ey," he  replied,  "I  trust  you  will  consider  what  is  done  already. 
This  year  and  the  last,  the  king  has  spent  about  £1,300,000,  his 
subsidy  and  benevolence  ministering  scant  £300,000  and  the  lands 
being  consumed  and  the  plate  of  the  realm  molten  and  coined, 
I  lament  the  danger  of  the  time  to  come.  There  is  to  be  repaid 
in  Flanders  as  much  and  more  than  all  the  rest.  .  .  Though 
the  king  might  have  a  greater  grant  than  the  realm  could  bear, 
it  would  do  little  to  the  continuance  of  these  charges  this  winter, 
most  of  the  subsidy  being  paid,  the  revenues  received  before- 
hand and  more  borrowed  from  the  mint  than  will  be  repaid 
these  four  or  five  months  —  and  yet  you  write  me  still,  pay,  pay, 
prepare  for  this  and  that."65  And  again  he  wrote  to  Paget, 
after  examining  the  very  discouraging  reports  of  the  various 
treasurers  —  "Now  what  I  shall  do  or  how  I  shall  divide  this 
matter  that  all  may  yet  be  saved  upright  I  cannot  tell.  I  would 
you  felt  a  piece  of  the  care  and  I  wene  you  would  not  write  so  of- 
ten as  you  do,  knowing  the  state  of  things  as  I,  by  the  declarations 
of  the  treasurers.  You  bid  me  run  as  though  I  could  make 
money.  I  would  I  had  that  gift  but  one  year  for  his  Majesty's 
sake."56 

The  situation  was  eased  in  1546  by  the  very  extraordinary 
yields  of  the  first  payment  of  the  subsidy  and  of  the  payment 

54  Statutes,  37  Henry  VIII,  c.  4. 

OB  Letters  and  Papers,  XX,  part  II,  366,  September  14,  1545. 

8«  Letters  and  Papers,  XX,  part  II,  746. 


ENGLISH   GOVERNMENT  FINANCE  [454 

of  the  first  fifteenth  and  tenth  granted  in  1545,  which  netted 
£135,000,57  and  by  the  conclusion  of  peace  with  France.  On 
June  7,  1546,  the  Treaty  of  Camp  was  signed.  France  was  to 
pay  all  pensions  due  to  Henry  VIII  during  his  life  and 
to  his  successors  as  it  was  directed  by  former  treaties,  that  is 
94,736  crowns  a  year  during  Henry 's  lifetime,  and  50,000  crowns 
in  perpetuity  to  his  successors  after  his  death,  and  10,000 
crowns  a  year  for  the  commuted  tribute  of  black  salt  to  Henry 
and  his  successors  if  found  to  be  perpetual.  Within  15  days 
after  Michaelmas,  1554,  Francis  I  was  to  pay  for  the  arrears 
of  the  pensions  and  for  the  fortifications  of  Boulogne  built  by 
Henry,  2,000,000  crowns;  whereupon  Francis  should  be  re- 
leased of  the  arrears  of  the  pension  due  to  May  1,  1546,  and 
all  charges  of  the  war,  and  Boulogne  should  be  restored  to 
France.58 

For  these  worthless  pensions  and  eight  years  of  the  possession 
of  Boulogne,  Henry  had  squandered  his  resources.  He  left  to 
his  son  a  debt  of  £100,000  Fl.  in  Flanders ;  an  empty  treasury,59 
a  debased  currency,  depleted  estates  and  charges  vastly  in- 
creased by  the  necessity  of  maintaining  a  post  war  establishment, 
in  France  and  against  Scotland. 


"  Exchequer,  Lord  Treasurer's  'Remembrancer,  Subsidy  Bolls,  nos.  42,  43. 

88  Letters  and  Papers,  XXI,  part  I,  1014.  The  treaty  made  further 
provision  that  a  debt  of  512,022  crowns  22s.  6d.  upon  certain  letters  of 
Francis  of  January  29,  1529,  for  money  lent  to  him  by  Henry  VIII  was 
to  be  submitted  to  commissioners. 

59  The  Treasurer  of  First  Fruits  and  Tenths  made  no  declaration  at  the 
end  of  the  fiscal  year  1546,  because  he  had  nothing  (Letters  and  Papers, 
XXI,  part  II,  34).  See  also  ibid.,  134. 


CHAPTER  XIII 

DIRECT  TAXES,  LOANS  AND  THE  DEBASEMENT  OF 
THE  COINAGE,  1542-1547 

The  great  dependence  on  direct  taxes  and  loans,  and  on  the 
profits  of  the  debasement  of  the  coinage  to  meet  the  exigencies 
of  the  war,  appears  very  clearly  in  the  history  of  the  last  years 
of  Henry  VIII 's  reign.  A  more  detailed  examination  of  their 
nature,  and  the  method  of  their  use  forms  the  topic  of  this 
chapter. 

Much  greater  success  was  achieved  in  the  use  of  the  direct 
parliamentary  taxes,  the  fifteenth  and  tenth,  and  especially  the 
subsidy,  than  had  been  met  with  in  earlier  periods.  Though 
they  bore  only  a  part  of  the  total  war  charges,  they  were, 
considered  absolutely,  vastly  more  productive  than  they  had 
been  in  former  periods.  Whereas,  Henry  VIII  had  raised 
£253,000  by  direct  taxation  during  his  first  war  with  France, 
and  little  more  than  £150,000  during  his  second  French  war, 
the  subsidies  and  fifteenth  and  tenths  voted  and  collected  from 
1540  to  1547  (both  years  inclusive)  netted  £650,000.* 

The  Lancastrian  and  Yorkist  kings,  it  will  be  recalled,  attempt- 
ed to  supplant  the  fiftenth  and  tenth  by  a  more  flexible  tax, 
under  royal  control.  Their  experiments  were  continued  by 
Henry  VII,  who  finally  succeeded  in  abolishing  the  exemption 
of  certain  towns  from  taxation,  in  making  a  new  assessment, 
in  putting  the  assessment  and  collection  into  the  charge  of 
royal  officers,  and  in  introducing  the  alternate  levy  on  either 
land  or  goods.  Some  progress  was,  made  towards  these  ends  in 
the  grant  of  1497,  and  the  precedents  were  firmly  established 
in  the  tax  of  1504.  The  alternate  levy  on  either  land  or 
goods  newly  assessed  for  each  grant  by  royal  officials  and 

1  See  Appendix,  Subsidies. 

159 


160  ENGLISH  GOVERNMENT  FINANCE  [456 

collected  by  them,  with  no  exemption  or  remittances  to  favored 
towns  or  localities  are  the  essence  of  the  Tudor  subsidy.  The 
first  three  decades  of  Henry  VIII  's  reign  were  a  period  of  exper- 
imentation to  find  the  most  productive  and  least  obnoxious  and 
disturbing  forms  of  the  tax  with  such  essentials.  In  1512  a 
so-called  "poll  tax"  was  tried.  A  duke  was  levied  for  ten 
marks,  a  marquis,  earl  or  countess,  £4;  a  baron,  baronet  or 
baroness,  £2,  and  a  knight  30  shillings.  Persons  with  freehold 
or  other  lands  of  the  annual  value  of  £40  or  more  were  to  pay 
20  shillings;  with  lands  worth  from  £20  to  £40,  ten  shillings; 
with  lands  worth  from  £10  to  £20,  five  shillings;  with  lands 
from  £2  to  £10,  two  shillings;  and  with  lands  worth  under  £2, 
12  pence.  Persons  with  personalty,  goods,  chattels  and  move- 
ables  paid  12  pence  if  their  goods  were  worth  from  £2  to  £10, 
and  so  in  an  ascending  scale  until  they  paid  four  marks  if 
they  had  goods  worth  over  £800.  Persons  paid  on  either  their 
land  or  their  goods,  according  to  which  was  of  the  greater 
value,  but  never  on  both.  Artificers  and  handicraftsmen  with- 
out property,  who  had  wages  above  40  shillings  a  year  were 
to  pay  12  pence;  if  between  20  shillings  and  40  shillings,  six 
pence;  and  if  below  20  shillings,  four  pence.  2  In  1514  a 
great  simplification  was  introduced.  The  grant  was  a  tax 
of  six  pence  in  the  pound  of  annual  value  of  land  above  20 
shillings,  six  pence  in  the  pound  on  wages  above  20  shillings 
or  six  pence  in  the  pound  on  the  value  of  moveable  property 
above  the  value  of  40  shillings.  All  natives  except  real  beggars, 
above  15  years  of  age  not  coming  under  the  other  provisions 
of  the  act  were  to  pay  four  pence.3  The  rate  was  very  consid- 
erably increased  to  something  like  its  later  extent  in  the  act 
which  Wolsey  forced  through  the  hostile  parliament  of  1523. 
This  granted  a  tax  of  one  shilling  in  the  pound  of  the  yearly 
income  from  lands  each  year  for  two  years,  and  one  shil- 
ling in  the  pound  on  the  value  of  goods  and  moveables  above 
£20,  and  six  pence  in  the  pound  on  such  values  between  40 
shillings  and  £20,  each  year  for  two  years.  Workmen  with  wages 
of  20  shillings  a  year  or  with  goods  of  40  shillings  of  value, 
paid  four  pence  each  year  for  two  years.  In  the  third  year 

2  Statutes,  4  Henry  VIII,  c.  19. 
s  Statutes,  5  Henry  VIII,  c.  17. 


457]        DIRECT  TAXES,  LOANS  AND  DEBASEMENT  OP  COINAGE          161 

landed  gentlemen  whose  lands  were  worth  £50  a  year  or  more, 
were  taxed  an  additional  shilling  in  the  pound,  while  in  the 
fourth  year  a  tax  of  one  shilling  in  the  pound  was  due  from 
all  who  possessed  moveables  above  the  value  of  £50.4  The  levies 
of  the  third  and  fourth  year  in  this  act  were  rather  accidental, 
being  added  to  it  by  the  jealousy  of  the  country-gentlemen  to- 
ward city-members,5  while  the  tax  of  four  pence  upon  all 
persons  with  more  than  20  shillings  a  year  in  wages  added 
comparatively  little  to  the  value  of  the  grant  and  much  to 
its  unpopularity. 

In  later  grants  the  "super  taxes"  of  the  act  of  1523  were 
stripped  off,  and  wide  limits  of  exemption  were  created,  to  in- 
clude eventually  more  than  half  of  those  who  had  paid  under 
the  act  of  1523.6  But  even  to  the  end  of  Henry  VIII 's  reign 
the  form  of  the  subsidy  had  not  become  fixed.  In  1540  £20  in 
value  of  lands  or  goods  was  set  as  the  limit  of  exemption;  the 
tax  was  one  shilling  in  the  pound  of  the  value  of  land,  and  six 
pence  in  the  pound  of  the  value  of  movables,  above  this  limit,  pay- 
able each  year  for  two  years.7  In  1543  the  limit  of  exemption  was 
only  £1  in  lands  and  goods.  The  tax  was  a  graduated  one;  on 
the  value  of  goods  it  ranged  from  four  pence  in  the  pound 
on  values  between  one  and  five  pounds,  to  two  shillings  in  the 
pound  on  values  over  £20;  on  land  it  began  at  eight  pence  in 
the  pound  for  values  between  one  and  five  pounds,  to  three 
shillings  in  the  pound  on  values  above  £20.  Not  only  aliens, 
who  had  always  done  so,  but  guilds  and  corporations  paid  at 
a  double  rate.  Payment  was  extended  over  three  years;  one 
half  being  due  in  1544,  and  one  quarter  at  each  of  the  successive 
payments  in  1545  and  1546.8  In  the  subsidy  of  1545  one  pound 
was  the  limit  of  exemption  for  land,  five  pounds  for  moveables. 
In  this  grant  the  land  tax  was  two  shillings  in  the  pound  pay- 
able in  two  years  (one  shilling  a  year  in  each  of  two  years),  but 

*  Statutes,  14  and  15  Henry  VIII,  c.  16. 

s  Hall,  Chronicles,  I,  285. 

e  In  1524,  17,000  persons  paid  the  tax  in  Suffolk,  representing  a  very 
large  part  of  all  the  heads  of  families.  In  1568,  only  7,700  persons  paid. 
Suffolk  Green  SooTcs,  X,  "Suffolk  in  1524,  being  the  Eeturns  for  a  Sub- 
sidy granted  in  1523,"  (Ed.  by  S.  H.  A.  Hersey),  page  XXIV. 

7  Statutes,  32  Henry  VIII,  c.  50. 

8  Statutes,  34  and  35  Henry  VIII,  c.  27. 


162  ENGLISH   GOVERNMENT   FINANCE  [458 

the  tax  on  personalty  was  graduated  from  eight  pence  in  the 
pound  on  goods  worth  from  £5  to  £10,  to  one  shilling  four 
pence  in  the  pound  on  goods  worth  more  than  £20.9  It  was  not 
until  Elizabeth's  reign  that  the  final  form  was  fixed,  and  the 
subsidy  became  a  stereotyped  institution. 

The  subsidy  of  1540  yielded  £94,000 ;  that  of  1543  £183,000  and 
that  of  1545  £196,000.10  The  augmenting  value  of  the  yield 
of  these  subsidies  may  have  been  due  to  the  wider  incidence 
and  higher  rates  of  the  later  two;  to  the  greater  insistence 
of  the  crown  upon  its  dues,  which  was  especially  emphatic 
as  the  war  demands  became  more  pressing,  and  to  the 
increasing  wealth  of  the  people  of  the  country.  Besides 
these  three  subsidies  six  fifteenths  and  tenths  were  grant- 
ed by  Parliament  in  this  period  from  1540  to  1547,  and 
netted  £176,000,  or  a  little  more  than  £29,000  each.  Fifteenths 
and  tenths  were  used  in  conjunction  with  the  subsidies  now  as 
earlier,  and  they  continued  in  their  old  form  without  change. 
In  most  of  the  years  from  1540  to  1547  the  crown  collected  two 
parliamentary  tax  levies ;  in  the  year  1546,  three.  That  it  was 
enabled  to  do  so  means  more  than  that  the  nation  was  committed 
to  a  foreign  war,  for  which  such  taxes  were  justifiable  measures, 
and  that  the  crown  had  now  organized  its  power  so  completely 
as  to  stamp  out  at  their  inception  such  revolts  as  had  arisen  in 
Henry  VII 's  reign  in  1489  and  again  in  1497  and  such  dissatis- 
faction as  had  greeted  Wolsey's  measures.  The  nation  was 
stirring  with  life  and  prosperity,  and  taxes  which  would  have 
dethroned  a  Yorkist  could  be  paid  without  grudging,  to  further 
the  personal  ends  of  a  popular  king. 

The  subsidies  and  fifteenths  and  tenths  represent  but  a  part 
of  the  money  taken  from  the  nation  in  direct  taxes  during  the 
war  period.  Despite  the  fact  that  the  clergy  had  granted  the 
perpetual  tenths  to  the  king  in  1534,  which  it  was  supposed 
would  take  the  place  of  the  occasional  tenths  or  dismes,  voted 
all  through  the  Middle  Ages  to  the  crown,  new  subsidies  were 
now  demanded.  These  took  the  form  of  the  tenth  part  of  the 
nine  tenths  of  the  clerical  income  which  remained  after  the 

9  Statutes,  37  Henry  VIII,  c.  25. 

10  Exchequer,  Lord   Treasurer's  Eemembrancer,  Subsidy  Boll,  42.     See 
Appendix,  Subsidies. 


459]         DIRECT  TAXES,  LOANS  AND  DEBASEMENT  OP  COINAGE  163 

perpetual  tenth  had  been  paid.  They  were  voted  by  convocation, 
with  parliamentary  authority  and  permission,  and  payments 
were  made  in  every  year  from  1540  to  the  end  of  the  reign. 

Taxes  in  reality,  though  not  in  name  were  the  forced  loans 
and  benevolences  of  the  war  period.  Henry  VII  obs'erved  a 
careful  distinction  between  a  forced  loan  and  a  benevolence ; 
the  first,  he  always  repaid;  the  second  was  not  intended  to  be 
repaid.  But  this  distinction  vanished  in  his  son's  reign,  and 
forced  loans  and  benevolences  became  nothing  less  than  arbi- 
trary taxes,  levied  by  the  king  without  parliamentary  authority, 
sometimes  made  easier  of  collection  by  promises  of  repayment, 
which  were  repudiated  by  subservient  parliaments  in  due  time. 
Wolsey's  failures  in  1525,  when  bon-fires,  reports  of  the  des- 
truction of  the  French  army  and  the  capture  of  the  king  of 
France,  processions  and  ' '  other  tokens  of  joy ' '  could  not  induce 
the  people  to  pay  the  loan  then  demanded,  and  in  1528  when 
a  new  loan  caused  grave  discontent  among  the  people,11  cast 
disrepute  upon  the  forced  loan ;  and  no  further  resort  was  made 
to  it  until  the  war  period  at  the  end  of  Henry  VIII 's  reign. 
On  March  22,  1542,  the  keeper  of  the  privy  seal  was  commanded 
to  deliever  by  indenture  to  Sir  Thomas  Wriothesley  and  Sir 
Ralph  Sadler  letters  under  the  privy  seal,  in  this  form, —  "By 
the  king,  where  our  Councillor  A.  B.  has  upon  great  and  ear- 
nest considerations  *  *  *  *  advanced  us  in  prest  the  sum  of  N. 
sterling,  we  promise  to  repay  it  in  two  years. ' ' 12  Sadler  and 
Wriothesley  delivered  these  "privy  seals"  which  were  blank  royal 
bonds,  to  royal  Commissioners  appointed  in  the  several  shires, 
to  be  filled  out  by  them  and  given  to  the  persons  who  lent  to 
the  king.  With  the  blank  privy  seals  were  sent  lists  of  the 
names  of  persons  to  be  approached,  compiled  from  the  subsidy 
books,  giving  the  rate  at  which  they  were  assessed  for  the 
subsidy. 

The  commissioners  were  to  declare  to  the  people  with  whom 
they  "practiced,"  how  the  king  had  been  at  great  charges  in 
erecting  and  repairing  castles  and  fortresses,  both  in  England 
and  at  Calais  and  Guisnes,  in  making  his  haven  at  Dover,  and 
in  maintaining  a  great  garrison  in  Ireland.  It  was  not  desirable 

11  Letters  and  Papers,  IV,  3303,  3866,  4772. 

12  Letters  and  Papers,  XVII,  188. 


164  ENGLISH   GOVERNMENT   FINANCE  [460 

that  the  king  should  spend  his  own  treasure,  lest  he  be  unpro- 
vided against  a  sudden  need.  For  these  reasons,  the  commis- 
sioners were  to  proceed,  the  king  desired  his  nobles  "and  others 
who  may  strain  themselves"  to  advance  him  money.  The  Com- 
missioners were  to  first  liberally  assess  themselves  and  then  to 
consider  the  whole  shire  with  reference  to  their  lists  of  names 
of  such  as  were  thought  meet  to  contribute.  They  might  "dis- 
miss ' '  some,  and  take  others  at  their  discretion,  pressing  no  man 
to  contribute  who  had  not  £50  a  year  in  lands  or  £100  in  goods 
The  least  rate  "that  can  conveniently  be  levied  of  the  hundred" 
was  ten  pounds  on  the  value  of  lands,  and  ten  marks  on  the 
value  of  goods.  If  any  person  showed  himself  "stiff"  in  con- 
descending to  the  loan  at  this  rate,  upon  the  allegation  of  poverty 
or  other  pretences  which  seemed  insufficient,  the  Commissioners 
were  to  use  what  persuasion  they  could,  and  if  "all  would  not 
draw  him  to  some  reason  and  honest  consideration  of  duty" 
they  were  to  charge  him  to  keep  secret  what  had  been  said  to 
him,  note  his  name,  and  send  him  home,  "and  so  pass  him 
over  in  such  a  silence  as  he  would  be  no  impeachment  or  evil 
examples  to  the  rest. " 13  Kepayment  was  promised  in  two  years, 
but  Chapuys,  the  Imperial  ambassador  wrote  that  it  was  more 
likely  to  be  at  the  Greek  Calends,  like  that  in  Wolsey's  time, 
and  none  of  the  lenders  expected  their  money  back  again.1* 
To  give  encouragement  to  the  faint-hearted  and  assure  them 
that  repayment  would  be  made,  the  Customs  officers  were  ordered 
to  abate  in  payment  of  customs  dues  such  sums  "of  which  they 
shall  be  advised"  to  those  who  had  lent  money  to  the  king.15 
But  even  those  who  were  repaid  in  this  way  had  little  good  of 
it,  for  parliament  in  1543  remitted  the  king's  obligation  to 
repay  the  loan,  and  all  those  who  had  secured  repayment  were 
called  upon  to  return  it.16 

The  loan  of  1542  was  more  productive  than  any  single  col- 
lection of  any  parliamentary  tax.  had  ever  been,  bringing 

is  Letters  and  Papers,  XVII,  194,  189,  190.  See  also  Historical  Mss. 
Commission,  Eeport  XII,  App.  IV,  27. 

i*  Letters  and  Papers,  XVII,  280. 

is  Letters  and  Papers,  XVII,  193. 

is  Statutes,  35  Henry  VIII,  c.  12;  Letters  and  Papers,  XXI,  part  1, 
1084. 


461]         DIRECT  TAXES,  LOANS  AND  DEBASEMENT  OF  COINAGE  165 

£112,229  into  the  treasury.17  It  was  followed  by  the  unsuccess- 
ful scheme  of  the  " Devotion  money"  in  1543,  preached  by  the 
ministers  in  the  churches  as  a  free  will  offering  to  aid  the  crusade 
against  the  Turks  and  by  a  very  small  loan  in  1544,  part  of  which 
was  actually  repaid.18  The  chaotic  financial  situation  at  the  end 
of  1544  resolved  Wriothesley  to  attempt  a  levy  without  promise 
of  repayment,  called  the  "Benevolence  money."  The  commis- 
sioners were  given  their  instructions  in  January,  1545.  The 
great  charges  made  last  year  for  the  siege  and  capture  of  Bou- 
logne and  the  preparations  now  being  made  "have  and  will  ex- 
haust more  money  than  we  (the  king)  can  sustain  without  the 
help  of  our  subjects"  and  knowing  by  experience  our  people  to 
be  so  loving  toward  us  that  they  will  gladly  contribute  what 
is  necessary,  as  if  it  were  granted  by  parliament,  we  forbear 
troubling  them  to  repair  hither;  and  by  our  council's  advice 
require  contributions  by  way  of  benevolence.  The  Commission- 
ers were  to  make  a  -"frank  example  contribution"  themselves, 
to  encourage  the  rest  to  strain  themselves  as  the  necessity  of 
the  time  required;  they  were  to  urge  the  defence  of  the  realm, 
their  wives  and  children,  and  to  sound  the  note  of  ingratitude 
if  need  be.  Every  man  with  lands  worth  40  shillings  or  more 
a  year,  or  with  goods  worth  five  marks  was  to  be  forced  to  con- 
tribute. The  least  rate  acceptable  was  eight  pence  in  the  pound 
on  lands  or  goods  being  below  £20  in  value,  and  one  shilling  in 
the  pound  above  £20.  Those  who  would  not  contribute  were  to 
be  sworn  to  keep  secret  what  had  been  said  to  them,  and  sent 
home,  not  to  be  an  evil  example  to  the  rest.19 

The  king's  naive  assumption  that  this  contribution,  which 
was  assessed,  levied  and  collected  with  all  the  machinery  of 
a  regular  parliamentary  tax,  would  be  gladly  paid,  may  be  a 
piece  of  royal  humor.  The  fact  is,  that  the  royal  power  was 
now  so  strong  that  fear  of  popular  opposition  did  not  need 
to  be  considered.  The  government  could  and  did  crush  any 
protest  promptly  and  effectively.  Two  examples  were  sufficient. 

IT  Exch.,  Lord  Treasurer's  Remembrancer,  Misc.  Bolls,  2/23.  Much  of 
the  payment  was  made  in  plate. 

is  The  proceeds  of  the  loan  of  1544  were  only  £12,970  (Letters  and 
Papers,  XIX,  part  I,  368).  Becords  of  repayment  are  found  in  ibid., 
XXI,  part  I,  775,  477 ;  Treasury  of  Receipt,  Privy  Seals,  bundle  4,  no.  86. 

i»  Letters  and  Papers,  XX,  part  I,  17,  52,  125   (5);  part  II,  App.  4. 


166  ENGLISH   GOVERNMENT   FINANCE  [462 

When  the  Duke  of  Suffolk  called  the  citizens  of  London  before 
him  at  Baynard's  Castle,  one  alderman,  Sir  William  Roach 
protested  the  legality  of  the  benevolence.  He  was  sent  to  the 
Fleet  prison  until  Passion  Sunday,  when  he  purchased  his  liberty 
from  the  king.20  Richard  Reed,  another  alderman,  refused  to 
pay,  and  ' '  could  not  be  persuaded  to  conform  thereto. ' '  The  fate 
of\  Reed  deterred  others  from  following  his  example.  For,  "as 
for  the  defence  of  the  realm  and  himself  he  would  not  disburse 
a  little  of  his  substance,  the  king  thought  he  should  do  some 
service  with  his  body."  He  was  sent  North  to  fight  the  Scots; 
to  serve  under  Evers  as  a  soldier  with  his  men  at  his  own  charge. 
Within  three  months  he  was  taken  prisoner  and  made  to  pay 
a  heavy  ransom.21  Had  Roach  and  Reed  lived  a  century  later, 
they  would  have  been  remembered  as  great  defenders  of  con- 
stitutional rights  in  England.  As  it  is,  they  live  in  the  pages 
of  Wriothesley's  Chronicle  and  in  one  or  two  old  documents,  as 
the  despicable  examples  of  men  so  lacking  in  patriotims  that 
they  would  not  willingly  give  of  their  substance  to  the  king's 
necessity. 

The  Benevolence  of  1545  was  even  more  successful  than  the 
Loan  of  1542,  yielding  £119,581,22  the  rate  was  lower,  but  the 
incidence  was  much  greater.  Its  general  lines  were  followed  in 
the  "Contribution"  of  1546,  levied  on  all  who  had  lands  of  the 
value  of  40  shillings  a  year  or  goods  worth  £15.  Here  the  least 
rate  was  higher  than  in  the  previous  year  —  four  pence  in  the 
pound  monthly  for  five  months,  or  twenty  pence  in  the  pound 
on  the  value  of  lands,  and  two  pence  in  the  pound  monthly  for 
five  months,  or  ten  pence  in  the  pound  of  goods.  The  provision 
that  payment  might  be  made  in  five  monthly  installments  is 
rather  novel.  The  account  of  this  levy  has  not  come  to  light, 
but  it  was  probably  as  great  in  its  returns  as  the  Loan  of  1542 
and  the  Benvolence  of  1545. 

In  addition  to  the  £650,000  raised  by  parliamentary  taxation 
during  the  war  period,  the  king  received  £270,000  from  arbi- 
trary taxes,  in  addition  to  the  Contribution  of  1546,  of  which  the 
return  is  unknown.  If  the  Contribution  of  1546  was  as  produc- 

20  Wriothesley  's  Chronicle,  151. 

21  Ibid.,  151,  153. 

22 Exchequer,  Lord  Treasurer's  'Remembrancer,  Misc.  Bolls,  2/23. 


463]         DIRECT  TAXES,  LOANS  AND  DEBASEMENT  OF  COINAGE  167 

tive  as  the  Benevolence  of  the  previous  year,  more  than  a  mil- 
lion pounds  was  taken  from  the  nation  in  the  war  period  of 
the  last  years  of  the  reign,  in  the  form  of  direct  taxes.  Though 
this  is  thirty  times  the  national  revenue  in  1485,  it  was  now 
merely  a  contribution  in  aid. 

THE  LOANS  IN  FLANDERS 

Henry  VIII 's  foreign  loans  during  the  last  years  of  his  reign 
are  perhaps  of  more  interest,  than  of  preeminent  importance. 
The  activity  of  his  agent  in  Flanders  gives  some  glimpses  into 
the  practice  of  international  banking  and  business  in  this  earlier 
time.  Stephen  Vaughan  was  sent  to  Flanders  in  1544,  the  year 
of  the  Boulogne  campaign,  to  negotiate  loans  which  would  be 
necessary  to  meet  the  charges  of  the  year.  The  regent,  the 
Queen  of  Hungary,  was  much  surprised  to  learn  that  he  had 
come  to  raise  100,000  ducats  monthly  for  Henry  VIII,  as  she 
knew  he  was  well  furnished  with  money.  She  even  instructed 
Chapuys,  the  Imperial  ambassador  in  London,  to  tell  Henry 
VIII  that  the  levying  of  money  in  Flanders  would  hinder  the 
Emperor  '$  plans,  and  that  she  would  pray  Henry  to  levy  it  in 
his  own  realm.23  No  real  opposition  however,  was  made  to 
Vaughan 's  operations.  He  fell  in  with  a  broker  or  intermediary, 
Jasper  Douche,  through  whom  he  was  brought  into  touch  with 
the  merchants  and  bankers  who  had  money  to  lend.  Things 
moved  quickly,  at  first.  Vaughan  had  arrived  on  May  23.,  On 
June  4,  he  had  promises  from  Douche  that  Henry  VIII  should 
have  100,000  crowns  in  ten  or  twelve  days,  with  interest  at  14 
in  the  hundred,  or  14  per  cent,  for  the  year,  to  be  repaid  at 
the  next  Cold  Mart,  February  12  or  14.  Douche  would  deliver 
a  second  hundred  thousand  crowns  in  July,  but  could  not  promise 
that  the  interest  would  be  the  same.24  The  security  for  the 
loans  was  curiously  arranged.  The  royal  credit  was  not  sufficient. 
Some  great  London  mercantile  house  sent  a  "bill  of  credence" 
to  its  factors  or  correspondents  in  Antwerp,  with  directions 
that  they  become  bound  to  such  persons  as  Vaughan  appointed, 
for  a  certain  sum.  The  London  house  was  guaranteed  against 

as  Letters  and  Papers,  XIX,  part  I,  578,  the  Queen  of  Hungary  to 
Chapuys. 

2*  Letters  and  Papers,  XIX,  part  I,  360. 


ENGLISH  GOVERNMENT  FINANCE  [464 

loss  by  bonds  or  obligations  in  which  Wriothesley,  Suffolk,  Sir 
Anthony  Brown  and  other  members  of  the  Council,  with  the 
two  Greshams,  Sir  Richard  and  Sir  John,  the  two  richest  London 
merchants,  bound  themselves  to  pay  a  large  forfeit  to  the  house 
if  the  loan  for  which  they  stood  surety  was  not  promptly  re- 
paid.25 The  guaranteeing  houses  were  p^force  Italians,  since 
the  Staplers  and  Merchant  Adventurers  would  not  suffice;  and 
of  the  Italian  houses  in  London,  merchants  in  Antwerp  preferred 
the  companies  of  the  Vivaldi  and  the  Bonvise  as  sureties.28 
Before  long,  Vaughan  received  his  first  bills  of  credence  from 
England,  and  for  some  reason,  these  first  bills  were  refused 
in  Flanders,  because  the  bankers  suspected  the  Bonvise  of  under- 
hand dealing;  and  it  was  necessary  to  send  to  London  for  new 
bills.27 

In  this  same  letter  in  which  he  first  asked  for  the  new  bills, 
Vaughan  sent  the  good  news  that  the  first  hundred  thousand 
crowns  would  be  received  from  the  Welsars,  a  house  which  had 
lent  800,000  crowns  to  the  Emperor,  ' '  and  was  not  yet  empty. ' ' 
The  first  loan  "would  be  a  mean  to  practice  with  them  otherwise." 
Vaughan  wrote  further  that  he  had  already  "made  a  motion 
to  them  for  lead,"  that  is,  he  had  suggested  their  purchase  of 
some  of  the  lead  from  the  roofs  of  the  monastery  buildings 
which  Henry  VIII  had  on  hand,  and  he  had  been  promised  an 
answer  in  fifteen  days. 

The  new  bills  of  credence  arrived  from  London  in  due  course ; 
but  a  new  difficulty  arose  when  it  came  to  receiving  the  money. 
The  merchants  refused  to  pay  more  than  36  stivers  to  a  crown, 
although  the  rate  in  France  was  38  stivers.28  Vaughan  soon 
came  to  the  conclusion  that  he  had  "to  do  with  foxes  and  wolves 
which  are  shrewd  beasts,  whose  natures  are  well  known  to  your 
(the  council's)  honors."  Finally  on  July  2,  the  bargain  for  the 
first  loan  was  concluded  for  122,778  crowns  at  ten  and  one-half 
per  cent  interest  for  nine  months,  payable  at  the  next  Cold 
Mart.29 

Even  before  the  money  of  the  first  loan  was  in  his  hands, 

25  iud.,  759. 

wlbid.,  630,  Vaughan  to  Wriothesley. 

27/iuZ.,  725. 

28  IMd.,  733. 

2»  Ibid.,  822. 


465]         DIRECT  TAXES,  LOANS  AND  DEBASEMENT  OF  COINAGE  169 

Vaughan  began  negotiations  for  further  loans,  and  by  the  end 
of  the  year  1544,  he  had  succeeded  in  raising  altogether,  210,000 
crowns.  Most  of  the  money  was  spent  for  the  incidental  expenses 
of  the  campaign  of  1544,  like  the  hire  of  wagons,  advances  to 
German  mercenaries  and  the  purchaes  of  gunpowder  and  other 
stores,  while  £14,000  Flemish  was  sent  to  Suffolk  in  July  for 
the  wages  and  charges  of  the  solidiers  in  his  division  of  the  army 
invading  France.30 

In  June,  1544,  Vaughan  had  mentioned  the  king's  lead  to  the 
Welsars.  In  July  he  advised  the  Council  to  send  a  good  stock 
of  lead  to  Antwerp,  to  remain  there,  "the  sight  of  which  would 
get  credence  easier  and  cheaper  than  merchants'  bills."  The 
Council  was  eager  to  act  on  Vaughan 's  advice,  and  bettered  it 
—  they  conceived  the  idea  of  sending  lead  to  Flanders  in  great 
quantities,  to  sell  it  there,  to  provide  money  for  the  repayment 
of  the  loans.  Vaughan  cried  out  upon  the  plan,  since  the  flood- 
ing of  the  market  would  surely  drive  the  price  down.  It  would 
be  better,  he  thought,  to  extend  the  loans,  rather  than  secure 
money  for  their  repayment  in  this  way.  The  loss  on -the  lead 
would  be  33  per  cent,  while  the  loans  cost  only  ten  and  one- 
half  per  cent.  Nevertheless  as  December  came  around,,  and  the 
prospect  of  the  coming  day  of  repayment  began  to  disturb  the 
Council,  Vaughan  went  to  all  the  mercantile  houses  of  Antwerp 
as  salesman  for  the  king 's  lead.  But  no  one  offered  more  than  four 
pounds  three  shillings  for  a  fodder  of  2184  pounds,  which  was 
fourteen  shillings  sixpence  below  the  market  price  in  August, 
while  one  house  at  Aix-la-Chapelle  offered  to  buy  3000  fodder 
a  year  at  four  pounds,  with  twelve  months  for  payment  and 
an  agreement  that  the  king  would  sell  to  no  one  else.  The  offers 
were  not  accepted.  Eventually  in  July,  1545,  Vaughan  made  a 
contract  with  Spanish  merchants  for  the  delivery  of  30,000  hun- 
dred weight  or  quintals  of  alum,  at  sixteen  shillings  eight  pence 
the  quintal  to  the  king  at  London  or  Southampton,  in  exchange 
for  lead  at  four  pounds  thirteen  shillings  and  four  pence  the 
fodder,  with  customs  paid  by  the  Spanish  merchants  on  both  the 
lead,  and  the  alum  which  the  King  expected  to  sell  to  cloth 
manufacturers  in  England  for  cash.31 

so  Ibid.,  822,  1099,  859,  887 ;  ibid.,  part  II,  108,  160,  220. 
ai  Letters  and  Papers,  XIX,  part  II,  119,  143,  743;  XX,  part  I,  1261, 
1265;  part  II,  App.  41. 


170  ENGLISH   GOVERNMENT   FINANCE  [466 

Some  of  the  first  loans  were  for  only  six  months,  and  were 
due  in  December,  1544.  Since  Vaughan  could  sell  no  lead,  and 
there  was  no  money  available  in  England,  Vaughan  got  them 
extended  until  February  10,  1545.32  At  this  time  210,000  crowns 
were  due,  and  repayment  was  promptly  made  from  the  revenues 
in  the  Exchequer,  the  Augmentations,  the  Treasury  of  the 
Chamber,  the  First  Fruits  and  Tenths,  and  the  Mint  through 
Sir  Richard  and  Sir  John  Gresham.33  The  king's  credit  now 
stood  very  high.  Before  long,  the  "Fowkers"  (Fuggers),  acting 
through  Douche,  offered,  among  other  things,  to  bargain  for  any 
sum  the  king  pleased  upon  the  credit  of  the  Staplers  and  the 
Merchants.  Much  negotiation  followed.  Vaughan  wrote:  "We 
have  much  ado  here  with  the  Fowker  for  the  making  of  his 
obligations.  Wonderful  tricks  had  a  lawyer  here  devised  to 
bind  the  king's  Majesty  and  his  city  (of  London)  in,  all  of 
which  we  refused."  Finally  the  Fowker  agreed  to  accept  the 
obligation  of  merchants  of  London  and  the  king's  promise  in 
verbo  regio,  and  lent  him  300,000  crowns,  of  which  40,000  crowns 
was  in  jewels  and  the  rest  in  money,  at  ten  per  cent  on  the  money 
only.  The  low  rate  of  interest  was  accounted  for  by  the  profits 
on  the  jewels.  An  extra  two  per  cent  was  added  to  dispense 
with  the  obligation  to  repay  in  carolus  gilderns  and  crowns.34 
As  soon  as  the  agreement  was  concluded  came  a  new  difficulty, 
about  getting  the  money  out  of  the  country.  The  Flemings  sus- 
pected that  Vaughan  was  going  to  try  to  send  "valued  gold," 
money  of  good  fineness,  into  England,  to  be  melted  down 
and  minted  into  the  king's  new  debased  coins.  This  they  felt 
would  destroy  the  Low  Countries.  Vaughan  denied  any  such 
intention ;  but  at  the  same  time  he  was  planning  with  Paget  and 
Wriothesley  to  smuggle  the  money  out  of  Flanders  to  Calais  in 
wagons,  packed  away  under  merchandise.35  In  September  all  the 
money  in  Vaughan 's  hands  was  arrested,  to  prevent  its  export; 
but  permission  was  finally  given  to  export  under  certain  safe- 
guards.36 

32  Letters  and  Papers,  XIX,  part  II,  755. 

ss  Letters  and  Papers,  XX,  part  I,  154;  XXI,  part  I,  716  (4),  (5). 
a*  Letters  and  Papers,  XX,  part  I,  13,  892,  996,  1316;  part  II,  36,  114, 
333,  362,  595,  707  (19). 
ss  Ibid.,  XX,  part  II,  262. 
se  Ibid.,  388,  407,  507,  550. 


467]         DIRECT  TAXES,  LOANS  AND  DEBASEMENT  OF  COINAGE  171 

During  1545  Vaughan  carried  out  other  negotiations  with 
Christopher  Haller  —  who  demanded  impossible  sureties,  —  with 
Douche  on  his  own  account,  and  with  the  Bonvise  and  Ancelyn 
Salvage.  In  all,  he  raised  £128,929  Flemish  during  the  year,  of 
which  he  expended  £77,066  for  german  mercenaries,  paid  £31,827 
to  Thomas  Gresham  to  be  taken  to  Calais,  and  carried  40,000 
crowns  in  jewels  to  England,  on  his  return  thither  at  the  end 
of  the  year.37 

Early  in  1546  he  returned  again  to  Flanders,  bringing  with 
him  a  letter  of  credit  on  Bartholome  Compaigne  and  fellowship 
for  £6,000  Flemish.  He  at  once  set  about  raising  new  loans. 
John  Carlo  Affaitadi,  who  had  advanced  50,000  crowns  in  1544, 
now  wished  to  have  the  king  take  a  great  diamond  in  part  pay- 
ment of  a  new  loan ;  the  Fuggers  raised  the  question  of  sureties, 
since  those  which  the  king  offered  were  insufficient.  In  reply  to 
Paget's  importunities  for  more  speed,  Vaughan  once  wrote, — 
"I  trust  the  king's  Majesty  doth  not  think  that  I  am  able  to 
borrow  his  Highness  £40,000,  £50,000,  £60,000,  or  £100,000  upon 
my  credit  only.  As  these  be  no  wanton  sums,  no  more  be,  they 
to  be  found  in  every  man's  house.  Yfe  have  already  had 
£100,000  upon  the  credit  of  London.  If  ye  woll  have  me  press 
men  overmuch,  ye  shall  too  much  discover  that  which  were  better 
not  known.  Men  here  be  wise,  have  many  eyes,  great  intelligence 
out  of  all  countries.  Think  you  that  these  men  will  disburse 
so  huge  sums  of  money  before  they  can  be  honestly  assured  to 
be  repaid  again?  If  ye  woll  have  me  make  haste,  then  can  I 
certainly  answer  you  I  shall  not  speed  *  *  *  *  I  wot  not  what  to 
say  when  such  sureties  will  not  be  given  as  they  desire.  Prepare 
sureties  to  the  contentation  of  men  here  and  I  will  wage  my 
life  to  serve  the  king's  Majestey  with  £200,000  Flemish,  but  if 
that  come  not,  I  shall  be  able  to  do  little.  Think  you  that  the 
merchants  here  woll  take  the  bonds  of  noblemen  in  England? 
No,  I  assure  you.  And  as  to  our  merchants  they  are  better 
known  to  strangers  here  than  to  ourselves.  They  woll  not  all 
be  taken  for  30,000  crowns,  no,  though  ye  lay  them  heaped  all 
in  one  bond."38  Vaughan  succeeded  at  last  in  raising  £30,000 
Flemish  in  fustians  from  the  Fuggers  on  the  bond  of  the  city  of 

37  ibid.,  957. 

38  Letters  and  Papers,  XXI,  part  I,  241,  February  18,  1546. 


172  ENGLISH   GOVERNMENT  FINANCE  [468 

London,  to  be  repaid  in  six  months.  Of  this  £30,000,  £12,000 
was  used  to  repay  the  advances  made  in  the  previous  fall 
by  Diodati  and  Company,  and  Baldassar  and  Company  on  the 
letters  of  credit  of  Bonvise  and  Salvage.  An  additional  £6,000 
was  used  to  repay  the  advances  made  in  the  previous  fall 
for  six  months.  To  the  loan  from  the  Fuggers  was  attached  the 
"hard  condition"  that  the  fustians  be  sold  by  the  king  at  a  price 
not  lower  than  he  had  paid  for  them.39  The  sale  of  these 
fustians,  as  well  as  the  exchange  of  lead  and  alum  arranged 
somewhat  earlier,  was  in  charge  of  Sir  John  Gresham  and 
Andrew  Judd.  The  fustians  were  sold  at  little  or  no  loss,  but 
the  alum  received  in  exchange  for  £17,700  worth  of  lead  brought 
only  £7,700.  The  net  loss  to  the  crown  on  the  two  transac- 
actions  was  £10,200.40 

Vaughan  further  succeeded  in  the  early  part  of  1546  in 
raising  £27,125  on  letters  of  credit  of  Italian  houses  in  London, 
but  he  failed  to  carry  through  negotiations  for  600,000  crowns 
or  £200,000  Flemish  needed  to  pay  off  the  bonds  that  were  to 
fall  due  in  the  summer  and  fall  of  the  year.  The  most  impor- 
tant part  of  these  were  the  obligations  held  by  the  Fuggers  for 
300,000  crowns  borrowed  in  1545  and  the  £40,000  Flemish  bor- 
rowed in  February  1546,  both  due  on  August  15,  1546.  In  May, 
Vaughan  who  had  a  little  unemployed  money  on  hand  tried  to 
get  the  Fuggers  to  accept  part  of  the  debt  due  to  them  before 
time,  on  condition  that  they  would  respite  the  payment  of  the 
rest  as  long  after  the  day.  But  the  Fuggers'  Antwerp  agent 
refused  to  extend  part  of  the  loan  in  order  to  receive  part  of  it 
beforehand,  and  no  one  was  willing  to  advance  any  sufficient  sum 
on  the  obligation  of  London,  which  was  all  that  Henry  VIII  had 
to  offer.  The  Council  studied  the  problem  and  concluded  that 
the  smaller  loans,  owing  to  Italians,  the  greater  portion  of  the 
debt  due  to  the  Fuggers  which  with  interest  amounted  to 
£152,180  Flemish,  should  be  repaid,  but  that  the  rest  must  be 
prolonged,  if  it  were  necessary  to  send  a  special  agent  to  Anton 
Fugger  himself  in  '  '  Dowcheland,  "  to  do  so.41 

During  May,  June  and  July  £94,000  were  scraped  together  in 
the  various  revenue  treasuries  and  made  over  by  exchange  by 


id.,  367,  409,  410,  504  (24). 
40  Declared  Accounts,  Pipe  Office,  no.  11. 
*i  Letters  and  Papers,  XXI,  part  I,  1042. 


469]         DIRECT  TAXES,  LOANS  AND  DEBASEMENT  OP  COINAGE  173 

English  and  Italian  merchants  to  Flanders.42  Erasmus  Sheetz, 
who  was  to  figure  very  prominently  in  Edward  VI 's  and  Mary's 
reigns  as  a  royal  creditor,  lent  the  king  £20,000  Flemish,  paying 
it  directly  to  the  Fuggers.43  Finally  the  tension  was  relieved  by 
the  consent  of  the  Fuggers  to  an  agreement  that  of  their  total 
debt  of  £152,180  payable  on  August  15,  1546,  £92,180  should  be 
paid,  and  the  rest  respited  for  six  months  at  six  and  one-half 
per  cent  interest  for  the  term,  while  the  king  should  buy  from 
them  8571  quintals,  13  pounds  of  copper,  at  forty-six  shillings 
eight  pence  the  quintal,  at  a  cost  of  £20,000  Flemish  payable 
without  interest  at  Antwerp,  August  15,  1547.  Both  the  unpaid 
portion  of  the  loan  and  the  debt  for  the  copper  were  secured 
by  the  bonds  of  the  Mayor  and  commonalty  of  London.44 

But  difficulties  were  not  yet  over.  The  Emperor's  prepara- 
tions for  war  in  Germany  brought  trade  to  a  standstill  in 
Flanders  during  the  sumer.  English  merchants  could  not  sell 
their  cloth,  and  were  therefore  unable  to  meet  the  payments  of 
their  exchanges  in  August.  Moreover,  the  king's  debased  money 
would  not  be  accepted  by  Italian  bankers  in  Flanders.  With 
only  money  at  his  disposal  which  the  king's  creditors  refused  to 
accept,  and  the  time  of  payment  passed,  Vaughan  was  in  an 
unpleasant  position  early  in  September.  "The  Fugger  is  never 
from  me, ' '  he  wrote ;  ' '  the  house  of  Bonvyce  whose  day  was  the 
fifth  instant  pulls  me  hourly  by  the  sleeve. " 4S  On  September 
9th  the  Bonvise  having  received  only  £3,000  Flemish  of  the 
£9,000  due  them,  sent  to  Vaughan  demanding  the  rest.  Vaughan 
replied  that  he  could  only  pay  if  a  good  part  were  taken  in 
angels.  Then  the  Bonvise  declared  in  a  great  heat,  that  he  would 
take  no  more  angels  or  British  coin,  and  for  his  credit  as  a 
merchant,  he  must  bring  a  notary  to  protest  against  him  for 
non-payment.  Eventually  however,  during  September  and  Oc- 
tober the  Italians  and  the  Fuggers  received  what  was  due  to 
them,  and  their  receipts  taken.46 

«  Declared  Accounts,  Pipe  Office,  no.  10;  Letters  and  Papers,  XXI, 
part  I,  1380,  1421,  1535.  The  amounts  stated  in  these  accounts  vary 
slightly. 

43  Letters  and  Papers,  XXI,  part  I,  1420. 

"Ibid.,  1250,  1383  (98),  1537   (2). 

« Letters  and  Papers,  XXI,  part  II,  51. 

46 Letters  and  Papers,  XXI,  part  II,  70,  154,  177,  317;  Declared  Ac- 
counts, Pipe  Office,  no.  9. 


174  ENGLISH   GOVERNMENT   FINANCE  [470 

Henry  kept  faith  with  his  foreign  creditors  even  though  he 
was  a  little  slow  in  paying.  He  left  no  overdue  loans  unpaid  at 
his  death  in  January,  1547.  The  loan  of  £20,000  Flemish  of 
Erasmus  Sheetz  and  a  debt  of  £80,000  Flemish  to  the  Fuggers, 
(£60,000  for  the  extended  balance  of  the  loan  due  in  1546  and 
£20,000  for  copper  purchased)  were  left  as  a  heritage  to  Edward 
VI.  The  new  government  paid  Sheetz 's  loan  and  the  £60,000 
Flemish  owing  to  the  Fuggers,  when  payment  fell  due  in  Febru- 
ary, 1547.  When  however,  the  payment  of  the  £20,000  for  the 
copper  fell  due  in  August,  1547,  the  debt  was  renewed  and  more 
copper  purchased.47 

DEBASEMENT  OF  THE  COINAGE  AND  THE  PROFITS  OF  THE  MINT 

The  alienation  of  crown  lands  and  monastic  estates  to  provide 
war  resources  defeated  the  plan  for  a  sufficient  revenue  system 
under  the  king 's  own  control ;  the  use  of  direct  taxes  on  a  large 
scale  enforced  national  thrift  in  war  time,  and  perhaps  helped  to 
familiarize  the  people  with  the  idea  of  paying  taxes.  Ultimately 
the  social  effects  of  these  measures  were  enormously  beneficial 
—  the  Long  Parliament  would  have  been  impossible  had  Henry 
VIII  not  sold  so  much  of  the  monastic  lands.  But  no  good  can 
be  alleged  for  the  most  desperate  of  the  war  measures  of  Henry 
VIII 's  ministers,  the  debasement  of  the  coinage,  to  provide  im- 
mediate funds.  The  debasement  of  the  coinage  aided  in  enhanc- 
ing the  price  of  all  commodities  which  the  government  was 
buying  in  great  quantities  to  supply  its  armies.  Prices  were 
already  rising  in  England  before  the  debasement  began,  as  a 
result  of  the  price  revolution,  but  the  upward  tendency  was 
greatly  accelerated  by  the  debasement.  The  effects  of  the  price 
revolution  and  of  the  debasement  are  so  inextricably  connected 
in  Edward  VI 's  and  Mary's  reigns  that  it  does  not  seem  possible 
to  disentangle  them.  But  the  general  rise  in  prices  due  to  the 
two  causes  was  serious  for  the  government.  Inasmuch  as  the 
crown  lands  were  rented  on  long  term  leases,  it  was  not  possible 
for  the  government  to  increase  its  rentals  at  once  to  correspond 
with  the  lower  value  of  money.  Similarly  for  the  other  revenues. 
There  was  a  kind  of  poetic  justice  in  the  situation.  The  crown 
cheated  the  people  to  get  immediate  funds;  it  had  to  take  back 

47  Declared  Accounts,  Pipe  Office,  DOS.  9,  14. 


471]         DIRECT  TAXES,  LOANS  AND  DEBASEMENT  OP  COINAGE  175 

the  poor  money  in  payment  of  its  revenues  at  its  face  value; 
it  had  to  pay  at  increased  rates  for  all  its  supplies;  the  real 
value  of  the  revenue  expresed  in  terms  of  purchasing  power 
was  seriously  reduced. 

The  enhancement  of  the  coinage  was  no  new  thing  in  Europe 
in  the  fifteenth  and  sixteenth  centuries,  and  it  had  been  effected 
several  times  in  England  since  the  beginning  of  Henry  VII 's 
reign.  In  1489  Henry  VII  "let  smite"  a  new  coin  called  a  royal 
valued  at  ten  shilings,  and  groats  and  pence  were  coined  lighter 
than  they  were  before,  while  the  value  of  the  old  noble  was  raised 
from  six  shillings  eight  pence  to  eight  shillings  four  pence.48 
In  1524  Wolsey  turned  to  a  study  of  the  English  coinage  and 
came  to  the  conclusion  that  English  coins  were  undervalued  as 
compared  with  those  of  the  continent.49  In  1526,  accordingly, 
the  value  of  gold  was  increased  from  forty  to  forty-five  shillings 
an  ounce.  The  old  angel,  containing  one-sixth  of  an  ounce  of 
gold  was  thus  raised  from  six  shillings  eight  pence  to  seven 
shillings  six  pence,  and  other  coins  proportionately.  New  coins, 
of  lighter  weight,  the  george  noble  and  the  crown  of  the  double 
rose,  worth  six  shillings  eight  pence,  and  five  shillings,  and  lighter 
groats,  half  groats  and  pence  were  minted.50  The  measure  was 
one  of  self  protection  to  prevent  the  heavier  and  better  coin  from 
being  drawn  out  of  England  to  the  continent.  Inasmuch  as  the 
continental  nations  especially  France,  continued  to  debase  their 
coinage,  English  coins  were  again  altered  in  1542.  The  weight 
remained  the  same,  but  the  fineness  was  changed.  The  alloy 
in  the  gold  coins  was  increased  from  one-third  of  a  grain  to  one 
carat,  while  the  alloy  in  the  silver  coins  was  increased  to  two 
ounces  in  the  pound  Troy.  The  legal  value  of  the  ounce  of 
gold  and  silver  remained  unaltered,  but  the  fineness  of  the 
metal  in  the  coins  was  lowered.  This  debasement  was  not  a 
financial  expedient;  it  was  defensible  on  purely  economic 

48  Three  Fifteenth  Century   Chronicles,   Camden   Society    (1880),  80. 

4»  Letters  and  Papers,  IV,  956,  notes  in  Wolsey 's  hand. 

so  Letters  and  Papers,  IV,  2338,  2423,  2597,  2609;  Two  London  Chron- 
icles, 2;  Graf  ton's  Chronicle,  II,  93;  Grey  Friar's  Chronicle,  33;  Hall's 
Chronicle,  II,  77;  A  Short  English  Chronicle,  93.  The  two  proclamations 
ordering  the  change  in  value  were  issued  August  22,  1526,  and  November 
5,  1526. 


176  ENGLISH  GOVERNMENT  FINANCE  [472 

grounds,  as  a  necessary  measure  to  prevent  the  export  of  gold 
and  silver  from  England.51 

But  the  great  debasement  which  began  in  1544  has  no  such 
justification.  The  finanacial  situation  of  the  time,  the  pressing 
need  of  money  and  Wriothesley 's  calculations  of  the  king's  gain 
and  profit  by  the  measure  leave  no  doubt  that  it  was  adopted  to 
supply  sorely-needed  ready  money,  and  for  no  other  purpose. 
Of  course  the  real  reason  was  masked  behind  the  causes  which 
were  deemed  valid  for  earlier  cases  of  the  same  kind.  The  pre- 
amble of  the  proclamation  ordering  the  debasement  solemnly 
declares  that  whereas  in  Flanders  and  in  France  the  value  of 
money  was  so  enhanced  that  coin  was  daily  carried  out  of  the 
realm  notwithstanding  the  statutes,  the  only  remedy  appeared 
to  be  the  enhancing  of  the  value  of  the  silver  and  gold  within 
the  realm.52  First  the  value  of  gold  and  silver  was  raised; 
an  ounce  of  gold  was  raised  in  value  from  forty-five  to  forty- 
eight  shillings  and  an  ounce  of  silver  was  raised  from  three 
shillings  nine  pence  to  four  shillings.  Almost  immediately  after, 
the  standard  of  fineness  was  lowered.  On  May  28,  1544  the 
standard,  fineness  of  gold  used  in  the  coinage  was  fixed  at  23 
carats;  a  year  later  (March  27,  1545)  at  22  carats;  on  April  1, 
1546  at  20  carats.  The  silver  coinage  was  even  more  debased. 
In  1544  nine  ounces  of  silver  to  the  pound  Troy  were  used,  in 
1545  six  ounces  was  prescribed  and  in  1546  only  four  ounces, 
with  eight  ounces  of  alloy.53 

The  king's  profit  came  in  the  first  place  from  the  enhancement 
in  the  values  of  the  gold  and  silver,  since  he  was  able  to  coin 
at  a  great  profit  great  masses  of  plate  in  his  jewel  house,  and 
to  recoin  money  in  his  own  hands.  He  also  reduced  the  value 
of  his  debts.  His  greatest  profits  however,  came  from  the 
debasement  of  the  fineness  of  the  coinage.  He  purchased  gold 
bullion  at  twenty-four  carats  fine  at  the  legal  price;  he  issued 
it  forth  from  his  mints  at  twenty-three,  twenty-two,  twenty  car- 

6i  Letters  and  Papers,  VI,  197;  VII,  1332;  XI,  45;  XV,  791;  XVII, 
197;  XIX,  part  I,  page  61.  Accounts,  Exch.,  Queen's  Remembrancer :, 
302/22.  The  profits  to  the  crown  in  two  years  were  only  £23,189. 

52  Letters  and  Papers,  XIX,  part  I,  513,  the  proclamation  of  May,  16, 
1544. 

53  Letters  and  Papers,  XIX,  part  I,  page  LV,  account  of  Sir  Martin 
Bowes,  under  treasurer  of  the  Mint. 


473]         DIRECT  TAXES,  LOANS  AND  DEBASEMENT  OF  COINAGE          177 

ats ;  and  for  this  ounce  of  twenty  carats  of  gold  and  four  carats 
of  alloy  he  received  likewise  the  legal  price,  48  shillings.  On 
every  pound  weight  of  gold  coined,  the  king  gained  from  twen- 
ty-seven shillings  six  pence  in  1544  to  ninety-four  shillings  six 
pence  in  the  early  part  of  1546 ;  and  on  every  pound  weight  of 
silver  he  gained  from  nine  shillings  one-half  penny  five  mites 
in  1544  to  twenty-nine  shillings  eleven  pence  in  1546.84  The 
king's  profits  from  his  mints,  arising  from  the  recoinage  and 
debasement  were  £363,000  from  May,  1544,  to  the  end  of 
the  reign.  The  evil  practice  begun  by  Henry  VIII  's  government 
was  bettered  by  his  son's;  between  May  14,  1544  and  January  1, 
1551,  the  crown  received  £900,000  clear  from  the  profits  of  the 
mint  —  more  than  the  revenues  of  the  court  of  Augmentations 
for  the  same  period.55 


s*  In  detail  the  king's  profits  were  June  1,  1544  to  March  31,  1545 
in   every  pound   Troy   of   gold        27s.     6d. 
in   every  pound   Troy   of   silver        9s.  ^d.      5  mites 

April  1,  1545  to  January  1,  1546 
in   every  pound   Troy   of   gold        53s.     6d. 
in   every  pound   Troy   of   silver       20s.     7d. 

January  1,  1546  to  March  31,  1546 
in   every   pound   Troy   of   gold        42s.     6d. 
in   every   pound   Troy   of   silver       20s.     7d. 

April  1,  1546  to  September  30,  1546 
in   every  pound   Troy   of   gold        94s.     6d.    m 
in   every   pound   Troy   of   silver      29s.  lid. 

September  30,  1546  to  March  31,  1547 
in   every  pound   Troy   of   gold        84s.     6d. 
in   every  pound   Troy   of   silver       29s.  lid. 

The  figures  include  the  profits  of  the  debasement  and  the  ordinary 
profits  of  the  mint.  They  are  taken  from  the  accounts  of  Sir  Martin 
Bowes,  Under  Treasurer  of  the  mint,  Letters  and  Papers,  XIX,  part  I, 
page  LIII  ff. 

55  Declared  Accounts,  Pipe  Office,  no.  2077,  Declaration  of  the  account 
of  Sir  Edmund  Pekham,  High  Treasurer  of  the  Mint. 


CHAPTER  XIV 

THE  SCOTCH  AND  FRENCH  WARS,  1547-1550 

The  wars  of  Henry  VIII  with  France  and  Scotland  had  ser- 
iously strained  the  government's  resources  in  the  last  year  of 
his  reign  in  England.  Besides  the  permanent  reduction  of 
the  revenue  by  the  great  alienation  of  crown  lands,1  and  the 
increased  expenditures  induced  by  the  rise  of  prices,  there  was 
a  debt  of  £100,000  owing  in  Flanders ;  Boulogne  was  a  heavy  bur- 
den on  the  state;  the  costs  of  the  upkeep  of  the  fleet,  the  gar- 
risons, and  the  fortifications  at  Calais,  Berwick  and  other  places 
were  large.2  But  the  wars  did  more.  By  them  the  business 
of  the  state  was  so  tremendously  increased,  that  even  if  the  king 
had  not  been  growing  old,  it  would  have  been  a  physical  im- 
possibility for  him  to  guide  and  direct  all  of  its  manifold 
activities  himself.  "*As  it  was,  the  state  was  turned  over  to  the 
official  class,  who  as  members  of  the  council  assumed  more  and 
more  completely  the  management  of  affairs.  Creatures  of  Henry 
VIII,  as  long  as  he  lived  they  stood  in  fear  of  him,  but  the  acces- 
sion of  a  child  king  left  them  in  absolute  control  of  the  state. 
They  had  been  rewarded  by  Henry  VIII,  adequately  at  first, 
more  richly  in  the  latter  years.  They  were  rich,  but  not  yet 
so  rich  as  they  were  to  make  themselves.  It  must  not  be  supposed 
that  they  crudely  stole  government  money  from  the  treasury. 
They  solemnly  and  in  all  legal  form  conveyed  to  themselves 
the  basic  resources  of  the  state,  the  crown  lands,  as  fitting  rewards 

i  In  the  years  between  1540  and  1544,  both  inclusive,  the  average  rental 
of  monastic  lands  alone  had  been  about  £44,000.  In  1545  it  fell  to 
£32,739;  in  1547-48  the  first  year  of  Edward  VI 's  reign,  the  entire  rental 
of  all  crown  lands,  monastic  and  non-monastic,  was  only  £51,058.  Aug- 
mentations Office  Treasurer's  Bolls  of  Accounts,  nos.  1-4. 

*Exch.  of  Sec.,  Misc.  BooTcs,  259,  Teller's  declarations  of  issues  in 
the  Exchequer,  1544-1560. 

178 


475]  THE  SCOTCH  AND  FRENCH  WARS,  1547-1550  179 

of  the  grateful  boy  king  to  themselves  for  their  toils  endured 
in  the  onerous  business  of  government.  Before  Henry  VIII  was 
dead  a  week  Paget  produced  a  list  of  promotions  and  grants, 
intended,  as  he  alleged,  by  Henry.  From  year  to  year  huge 
blocks  of  land  were  thus  voted  by  the  council  to  themselves  and 
their  retainers;  throughout  the  reign  of  Edward  VI  lands  to 
the  annual  value  of  £27,000  were  thus  disposed  of  as  free  gifts.3 
These  lands,  greater  in  extent  than  the  land  sold  during  the 
reign,  were  permanently  lost  to  the  crown  for  practically  no 
return  at  all,  and  the  revenues  reduced.  This  was  all  the  more 
serious  for  the  future,  for  as  rents  and  values  rose  these  lands 
would  have  brought  an  ever  increasing  revenue.  Another  serious 
evil  was  the  promiscuous  granting  of  annuities  and  pensions 
and  lands  for  life  to  royal  favorites.  Edward  VI 's  government 
was  following  a  practice  of  Henry  VII 's  and  earlier  reigns  in 
this;  many  of  the  pensions  and  annuities  paid  in  Edward  VI 's 
time  had  been  granted  by  his  father.  To  provide  for  such  pay- 
ments, more  than  £32,000  of  the  royal  revenues  was  required  in 
1551.4 

But  the  picture  of  graft  and  corruption  must  not  be  over- 
drawn. Certain  very  important  reservations  must  be  kept  in 
mind.  There  was  no  disintegration  of  the  financial  system,  no 
general  breakdown  of  all  restraints  in  a  universal  plunder  of 
the  state.  *  It  was  only  to  the  masters  of  the  state,  the  council 
and  its  friends,  that  robbery  was  permitted,  and  then  only  in 
legal  form.  In  its  dealing  with  the  government  agents  and 
officials  who  supervised  the  revenue  and  expenditures,  the  council 
insisted  upon  a  high  standard  of  honesty  and  exactness.  From 
the  very  beginning  of  the  reign  of  Edward  the  council  devoted  a 
very  considerable  amount  of  its  time  to  a  consideration  of  finan- 
ces, as  the  acts  of  the  privy  council  show.  Careful  accounts  of 
the  great  treasurers  were  frequently  ordered  to  be  prepared  and 

zState  Papers,  Domestic,  Edward  VI,  XIX.  In  the  first  year  of  the 
reign  gifts  were  made  of  lands  to  the  annual  value  of  £5721-13-8;  in  the 
second  year  £3358-13-9;  in  the  third  year  £1257-6-2;  in  the  fourth  year 
£8804-19-10;  in  the  fifth  year  £3991-10-8;  in  the  sixth  year  £3442-13-10; 
in  the  seventh  year  £4099-17-11.  Bents  to  the  value  of  £3619  were  reserved 
to  the  crown  out  of  these  grants. 

*Add.  .Mss.,  30198,  report  on^the  revenues  for  the  year  1550-1551. 
Annuities  and  pensions,  £20,000;  grants  of  land  for  life,  £12,000. 


180  ENGLISH   GOVERNMENT   FINANCE  [476 

laid  before  the  council,  or  committees  of  the  council  were  ap- 
pointed to  investigate  the  state  of  the  revenues.  Individual 
members  of  the  council  sat  as  commissioners  for  the  auditing  and 
passing  of  the  accounts  of  the  very  large  numbers  of  persons 
who  had  royal  money  in  charge  during  the  wars  with  Scotland 
and  France.5  These  accounts  seem  to  be  carefully  and  accurately 
drawn.  It  is  possible  of  course,  that  the  crown  was  overcharged, 
that  goods  provided  were  inferior  in  quality,  or  that  supplies 
intended  for  the  government  were  diverted  to  private  uses. 
But  charges  of  this  kind  brought  to  the  attention  of  the  council 
are  negligible.6  On  the  other  hand  there  were  some  notorious 
cases  of  embezzlement  of  government  funds  by  important  finan- 
cial officials.  Sir  William  Sharington,  master  of  the  mint  at 
Bristol,  one  of  the  Lord  Admiral's  adherents,  withheld  certain 
sums  from  his  books  in  every  month  and  burnt  the  originals 
from  which  the  indentures  had  been  made  up.  He  did  not  know 
how  much  had  been  stolen,  but  admitted  that  it  was  over  £4,700.7 
Lord  Arundel,  the  Lord  Chamberlain,  was  charged  with  pecula- 
tion at  the  time  of  Somerset's  fall,  which  he  confessed,  and  in 
punishment  he  was  sentenced  to  forego  his  office  and  pay  a  fine 
of  £12,000,  "by  £1,000  by  the  year."8  In  1551,  Sir  Martin 
Bowes  was  contented  to  give  unto  his  highness  by  the  name  of 
a  fine,  £10,000  to  be  clear  of  all  demands.9  In  the  summer  of 
1552  some  of  the  most  able  of  Somerset 's  adherents  were  brought 
to  book.  Whalley,  the  receiver3  of  the  crown  revenues  in  York- 
shire, confessed  that  he  had  lent  .the  king's  money  upon  gain 
and  lucre,  that  he  had  paid  one  year's  revenues  with  arrearages 
of  the  last  and  had  bought  the  king's  lands  with  the  king's  own 
money.10  The  system  of  book-keeping  in  vogue  made  Whalley 's 

s  For  orders  to  the  treasurers  to  lay  their  accounts  before  the  council 
see  Acts  of  the  Privy  Council,  n.s.,  Ill,  29,  130,  133,  228,  236,  314;  IV,  12, 
44,  62,  164,  183.  For  investigations  of  the  revenue  by  committees  of  the 
council,  see  Add.  Mss.,  30198 ;  State  Papers,  Domestic,  Edward  VI,  II,  9,  30, 
31.  For  the  audit  and  passing  of  accounts  by  commissioners  see  the 
pieambles  of  the  declarations  of  accounts  of  this  reign,  e.g.,  Declared 
Accounts,  Pipe  Office,  43,  17,  14. 

«  Acts  of  the  Privy  Council,  n.  s.,  II,  492;  III,  127. 

7  Historical  Mss.,   Commission  Eeports,  Hatfield  Mss.,   I,   64-70. 

s  Acts  of  the  Privy  Council,  n.  s.,  II,  398. 

9  Acts  of  the  Privy  Council,  n.  s.,  Ill,  188. 

10  Journal  of  Edward  VI,  71. 


477]  THE  SCOTCH  AND  FRENCH  WARS,  1547-1550  181 

practice  easy  for  a  dishonest  man.  It  seldom  happened  that  all 
the  rents  and  revenues  due  in  a  district  for  the  year  were  col- 
lected. Yet  when  the  formal  declaration  of  the  account  was  made, 
the  issues  and  rents  for  the  year  were  set  down  in  full  on 
the  debit  side  of  the  account.  On  the  credit  side  were  entered 
the  payments  of  money  to  the  crown's  use,  including  all  the 
actual  receipts  of  the  year.  What  had  not  been  collected  was 
then  entered  on  the  credit  side  of  the  account  as  "arrearage" 
for  the  year,  to  balance  the  two  sides  of  the  account.  The 
arrearage  of  the  year  was  added  to  the  arrearages  of  past  years, 
which  formed  an  ever-increasing  sum,  in  which  little  interest 
seems  to  have  been  taken  when  the  accountant  presented  his 
account  in  the  following  year.  Some  arrears  of  rent  were  paid 
every  year,  but  inasmuch  as  the  records  of  the  details  were 
scattered  in  many  books,  it  was  easily  possible  for  the  accountant 
to  conceal  such  payments  and  use  them,  as  Whalley  did,  for  his 
own  purposes.  Similar  operations  on  a  far  greater  scale  than 
Whalley 's  were  conducted  by  John  Beaumont,  receiver-general 
of  the  Court  of  Wards  and  Liveries.  He  concealed  in  his  ar- 
rearages receipts  of  £9,763  in  money,  and  £11,822  in  obligations, 
more  than  £21,000  in  all.  These  sums  he  had  lent  to  purchase 
the  king's  own  lands  from  him.  He  was  further  guilty  of  taking 
bribes  as  a  judge  in  chancery.11  Lord  Paget  was  also  found 
guilty  at  this  time  of  great  malefeasance  in  his  office  of  Chan- 
cellor of  the  Duchy  of  Lancaster,  for  which  he  was  sentenced 
to  a  fine  of  £8,000,12  and  in  the  same  manner  Sir  John  Williams, 
treasurer  of  the  Court  of  Augmentations,  spent  some  time  in 
the  Fleet  prison.  From  his  accounts  it  appears  that  he  had 
kept  back  £28,445  received  in  his  own  time  and  in  the  time  of 
his  predecessor  from  the  sale  of  lands.13 

Punishment  for  illegal  fraud  was  of  the  nature  of  political 
vengeance;  there  is  therefore  reason  to  suspect  that  the  number 
of  offenders  included  many  who  never  lost  favor,  and  went  un- 
punished. And  yet,  when  most  has  been  made  of  the  corruption 
of  public  life  in  Edward  VI 's  reign,  Froude's  picture  of  "all 

11  Journal  of  Edward  VI,  70.  Court  of  Wards,  Misc.  Books,  365,  ff 
166-236.  This  is  the  account  in  which  the  concealment  is  admitted. 

12  Journal  of  Edward  VI,  71,  86.  State  Papers,  Domestic,  Edward  VI, 
XV,  58. 

is  Augmentations  Office,  Treasurer's  Eoll  of  Accounts,  no.  8. 


182  ENGLISH   GOVERNMENT   FINANCE  [478 

but  universal  fraud"  and  the  "infinite"  "expenses  of  universal 
peculation"  in  which  all  classes  of  persons  in  public  employment 
were  contending  with  each  other  in  the  race  for  plunder  and 
extravagance,  is  much  overdrawn.  It  rests  upon  such  false  assump- 
tions as  an  increase  in  the  expenditures  in  the  royal  household 
from  £19,000  a  year  in  1532  to  over  £100,000  a  year  in  Edward's 
time ;  the  disappearance  of  the  chantry  lands  into  private  hands 
"with  small  advantage  to  the  public  exchequer;"  and  upon  the 
hysterical  overstatements  of  the  popular  revivalists,  Lever  and 
Latimer.14  Public  corruption  heightened,  but  did  not  cause  the 
serious  financial  difficulties  of  the  reign.  The  frauds  were 
cumulative,  for  even  the  effects  of  the  plunder  of  the  crown 
estates  by  the  councillors  did  not  show  to  the  full  until  the  last 
year  of  the  reign,  but  the  financial  difficulties  began  almost 
at  once.  Of  these  the  most  obvious  explanation  is  the  renewal 
of  the  Scotch  and  French  wars,  and  their  aftermath. 

The  wars  demanded  great  sums  of  money,  at  once  available. 
During  the  first  five  years  of  the  reign  of  Edward,  his  govern- 
ment was  called  upon  to  find  a  total  of  £1,386,687  in  addition  to 
the  normal  governmental  expenditures,  for  war  purposes,  for 
the  fleet,  the  armies  in  Scotland  and  France,  the  garrisons  at 
home  and  in  Boulogne  and  Calais,  and  for  new  fortifications.15 
There  was  no  surplus  on  hand,  as  there  had  been  in  1542;  the 
situation  was  similar  to  that  in  1522-1523,  during  the  second  of 
Henry  VIII  's  French  wars.  At  this  time  when  Wolsey  failed  to 
get  money  by  means  of  loans  and  subsidies,  he  had  been  com- 
pelled to  advise  the  king  to  make  peace.  But  since  then  Henry 
VIII  discovered  means  of  raising  money  quickly  by  the  sale 
of  lands  and  the  coinage  of  debased  money.  In  this  way  entered 
into  by  Henry  VIII  in  his  last  years,  the  Edwardian  government 
followed  on  to  procure  the  ready  money  needed  "to  go  on  with." 

With  the  first  rumors  of  a  renewal  of  war  with  France,  and  the 
beginning  of  war  with  Scotland,  the  confiscation  of  the  accumu- 
lated wealth  of  the  worn-out  institutions  of  the  church  was 
consummated.  In  1545  Henry  VIII  had  received  the  power  to 
visit  and  suppress  colleges,  hospitals,  free  chapels,  chantries  and 

i*  J.  A.  Froude,  "History  of  England,"  V,  chapters  26,  27.  See  below 
pp.  oo,  oo. 

is  State  Papers,  Domestic,  Edward  VI,  XV,  11. 


479]  THE  SCOTCH  AND  FRENCH  WARS,  1547-1550  183 

other  corporations  of  similar  nature.  Many  chantries  had  been 
suppressed  during  Henry  VIII 's  lifetime.  The  act  lapsed  at  his 
death.  In  December,  1547,  parliament  renewed  the  statute  in 
favor  of  Edward  VI,  vesting  all  the  property  of  colleges  and 
chantries  in  the  king  after  the  next  Easter.16  The  council 
viewed  the  grant  as  made  " specially  for  the  relief  of  the  king's 
majesty's  charges  and  expenses  which  do  daily  grow  and  in- 
crease by  reason  of  diverse  and  sundry  fortifications,  garrisons, 
levying  of  men  and  soldiers  which  is  at  this  present  so  chargeable 
and  costly  that  without  great  help  and  aid  of  money  his  majesty 
should  not  be  able  to  sustain  the  charges  thereof."  In  April, 
1548,  when  the  approach  of  war  with  France  made  it  necessary 
that  his  majesty  should  "have  in  readiness  all  that  should  be 
for  the  defence  of  his  majesty's  realm,"  and  the  council  noted 
that  "nothing  (is)  so  much  lacking  as  money  to  maintain  the 
costs  and  charges  thereof,  without  the  which  no  defence  can  be 
had,"  it  was  decided,  since  there  was  at  this  present  "none  other 
means  without  great  difficulty,  danger  and  grudge  to  make  such 
a  mass  (of  money)  as  might  serve  for  this  present  necessity," 
to  authorize  the  sale  of  chantry  lands  to  the  annual  rental  value  of 
£5,000.  Before  the  Michaelmas  accounts  of  1548  were  made  up, 
£110,486  had  been  received  by  the  commissioners  of  the  sales, 
and  paid  into  the  treasury  of  the  Augmentations  Court.17  The 
sales  not  only  provided  the  government  with  available  funds 
for  a  time,  but  assured  the  support  of  the  war  by  the  wealthy 
merchants  of  London.  The  government's  need  furnished  them 
further  opportunity  to  purchase  the  land  which  was  still  the 
safest  investment  for  surplus  capital  and  the  necessary  basis 
for  social  distinction. 

IB  Statutes,  1,  Edward  VI,  c.  4. 

17  Augmentations  Office,  Treasurer's  Boll  of  Accounts,  no.  4.  In  1549 
there  was  received  for  the  sale  of  lands  £92,695;  in  1550,  £47,286; 
and  in  1551,  £7,856  (Augmentations  Office,  Treasurer's  Boll  of  Accounts, 
nos.  5,  6,  7).  Sales  after  1551  are  treated  below.  The  receipt  by  the  state 
of  these  sums  effectively  replies  to  Mr.  Froude's  assertion  that  "the 
chantry  lands,  which  if  alienated  from  religious  purposes,  should  have 
been  sold  for  public  debts,  were  disappearing  into  private  hands  with 
small  advantage  to  the  public  exchequer"  (History  of  England,  V,  154). 
As  a  rule  the  state  received  twenty  years'  purchase,  or  twenty  times  the 
annual  value,  a  good  price. 


184  ENGLISH   GOVERNMENT   FINANCE  [480 

As  was  shown  "for  certain  by  divers  motions  in  the  late 
parliament  made,"  the  king's  loving  subjects  "were  induced 
the  rather  and  f ranklier  to  grant ' '  the  chantries  and  other  relig- 
ious corporations  to  the  king  "that  they  might  thereby  be  re- 
lieved of  the  continual  charge  of  taxes,  contributions,  loans  and 
subsidies  the  which  by  reason  of  wars  they  were  constrained 
in  the  late  king  of  famous  memory  his  majesty's  father's  reign 
to  abide. '  '18  But  the  freedom  of  taxation  which  parliament  had 
sought  to  achieve  by  the  transfer  of  the  chantries  to  the  king 
was  short-lived.  The  expenditures  for  war  purposes  were  so 
great  that  a  new  appeal  to  parliament  was  necessary  in  1548. 
The  tax  measure  which  followed  was  a  curious  one.  Instead  of 
a  direct  tax  on  land,  it  provided  an  indirect  tax  on  sheep  and 
wool,  to  the  raising  and  production  of  which  land  was  being 
more  and  more  devoted.  For  the  inadequate  subsidy  it  offered 
a  substitute  which  promised  to  yield  £106,000  to  £156,000  a  year. 
This  estimate  was  based  upon  a  calculation  of  the  number  of 
sheep  in  England  in  Edward  Ill's  reign,  arrived  at  from  the 
wool  customs  of  that  time.19  In  the  measure  is  to  be  seen  also 
something  of  Somerset's  spirit  of  agrarian  reform,  a  design  to 
check  conversion  of  arable  to  pasture  land  by  indirect  taxation. 
With  the  new  taxes  on  sheep,  wool,  and  woolen  cloth,  were  com- 
bined some  of  the  older  subsidy  features  of  a  tax  on  personalty 
and  a  poll  tax  on  certain  aliens.20  At  the  same  time  the  clergy 
made  a  grant  of  a  subsidy  of  six  shillings  in  the  pound  of  the 
yearly  value  of  all  their  livings,  payable  in  three  years.21  The 
relief  was  not  nearly  so  productive  as  the  later  subsidies  of 
Henry  VIII 's  reign.  The  first  payment,  in  1549,  brought  in 

is  Acts  of  the  Privy  Council,  n.  s.,  II,  184. 

19  State  Papers,  Domestic)  Edward  VI,  II,  13.  This  is  a  paper  book 
endorsed  "Customs  for  Wools,"  addressed  to  my  Lord  Protector's  grace. 
It  sets  forth  the  project  in  several  forms.  See  also  ibid.,  V,  20. 

*o  Statutes,  2  and  3  Edward  VI,  c.  36.  The  tax,  known  as  the  Belief, 
\vas  taken  at  the  rate  of  1  shilling  in  the  pound  of  the  value  of  personalty 
yearly  for  three  years.  Aliens  were  assessed  at  double  rates;  those  of 
them  not  paying  the  personalty  tax,  paid  a  poll  tax  of  8  pence.  For 
every  ewe  sheep  kept  in  pasture  was  taken  3  pence;  every  wether  2 
pence;  every  shear  sheep  on  commons  1%  pence,  or  in  lots  of  more  than 
ten,  1  penny  yearly  for  three  years.  Each  piece  of  woolen  cloth  made 
was  taxed  8  pence  in  the  pound  of  its  value. 

21  Statutes,  2  and  3  Edward  VI,  c.  35. 


481]  THE  SCOTCH  AND  FRENCH  WARS,  1547-1550  185 

slightly  less  than  £54,000;  the  second  pyament,  in  1550,  only 
£47,500.  But  before  the  second  payment  had  been  collected, 
Kets'  rebellion  had  broken  out,  and  Somerset  had  been  deprived 
of  his  protectorship.  In  the  parliament  of  November,  1549,  Som- 
erset's agrarian  policy  was  reversed;  with  the  repeal  of  the 
Tudor  agrarian  legislation  and  the  reenactment  of  the  Statute 
of  Merton,  there  was  also  the  repeal,  on  the  initiative  of  the 
commons  themselves,  of  the  final  payment  of  the  tax  on  sheep, 
wool  and  cloth.22  Asxa  compensation  the  subsidy  of  a  shilling 
in  the  pound  of  the  value  of  goods  was  extended  for  another 
year.23  On  the  whole,  but  little  aid  obtained  from  taxes  of 
parliamentary  grant  in  Edward  VI 's  reign.  Their  total  yield, 
including  £120,000  granted  in  Henry  VIII 's  time  and  paid  in 
April  and  June,  1547,  was  only  £299,000.  For  the  purpose  of 
the  wars  with  Scotland  and  France  the  grant  of  1548  was  of 
especially  little  consequence. 

The  chief  reliance  of  the  government,  for  its  war  finances, 
was  placed  upon  the  mint,  and  the  profits  of  coining  debased 
money.  In  the  first  two  years  of  the  reign,  Henry  VIII  's  stand- 
ard of  fineness,  eight  parts  of  alloy  and  four  parts  of  silver, 
and  his  dies,  continued  to  be  used.  The  coins  of  these  years  are 
identical  with  those  of  the  last  years  of  Henry  VIII 's  reign. 
In  1549  a  change  was  made.  The  gold  sovereign  was  coined 
22  carats  fine  instead  of  20;  but  the  new  coin  was  lighter,  con- 
taining 170  instead  of  192  grains  of  metal,  and  only  156  grains 
of  pure  gold  as  opposed  to  160  grains  in  the  older  coin.  In  the 
silver  coins  the  silver  content  was  raised  to  six  parts,  with  six 
parts  of  alloy;  but  as  the  new  coins  were  only  two-thirds  the 
size  of  the  older  coins  which  they  replaced,  they  contained  ex- 
actly the  same  number  of  grains  of  pure  silver.24  There  was  great 
difficulty  in  securing  bullion  due  to  the  prohibition  of  the  ex- 
port of  bullion  from  Flanders,  where  large  quanities  were 

22  Commons  Journal,   I,   11.     On  Monday,  November  18,   1549,   it  was 
ordered  that  the  speakers  and  others   of  the  house  should  be  suitors  to 
know  the  king's  pleasure  by  his  council,  if  upon  their  humble  suit  they 
might  treat   of  the   last  relief  for   cloths   and   sheep.     On  the   20th  the 
king's  pleasure  was   announced  that  the   house   might  treat  for  the  act 
cf  relief  "having  in  respect  the  cause  of  the  granting  thereof." 

23  Statutes,  3  and  4  Edward  VI,  c.  23. 

2*  C.  W.  C.  Oman,  The  Tudors  and  the  Currency. 


186  ENGLISH  GOVERNMENT  FINANCE  [482 

purchased  by  loans.25  Yet,  with  all  the  difficulties,  the  profits  of 
the  government  were  very  great.  Between  the  first  day  of 
Edward's  reign  and  the  first  of  January,  1551,  covering  approx- 
imately the  war  period,  £537,000  was  realized  on  the  debasement 
of  the  currency.26 

The  confiscation  of  the  chantries,  the  sale  of  their  lands  and 
goods,  the  new  taxes,  and  the  debasement  of  the  currency  pro- 
vided notable  sums,  but  not  enough  to  meet  the  war  bills. 
Further  shift  was  made  by  using  funds  intended  for  normal 
charges,  so  that  at  the  end  of  the  war  the  various  governmental 
departments  were  deeply  in  dept.27  Finally  heavy  loans  were 
made  in  Flanders,  of  the  Fuggers,  the  Tuchers,  the  Sheetz  and 
other  bankers  in  Antwerp.  At  times  to  repay  one  loan  another 
was  made ;  or  the  original  loan  was  extended  on  disadvantageous 
terms,  generally  involving  the  purchase  of  fustians,  jewels  or 
other  goods  by  the  king.28  In  this  device  of  foreign  loans,  as 

26  State  Papers,  Domestic,  Edward  VI,  VIII,  38. 

26  Declared  Accounts,  Pipe  Office,  2077,  Declaration  of  the  account  of 
Sir  Edmund  Pekham,  high  treasurer  of  the  mints,  to  January  1,  1551. 

27  Lansd.  Mss.,  II,  f .  125.     A  paper  noted  in  Cecil 's  hand,  drawn  up 
before  November,  1552.     The  Household  owed  £28,000;  the  Chamber  £20- 
000;   the  Wardrobe  £8,333;   the  Stables  £1,000;   the  Admirality  £5,000; 
the  Ordnance  £3,134;  the  Surveyor  of  the  Works  £3,200;   the  Treasurer 
of  Calais  £15,000;   the  Treasurer  of  Berwick  £6,000;  the  Master  of  the 
Bevels  £1,000;  the  Treasurer  of  Ireland  £13,128;  and  paymasters  at  Sicily, 
Alderney,  Plymouth  and  the  Isle  of  Wight  £2,000. 

28  One  bargain  made  March  23,  1551,  between  the  council  and  Chris- 
tofer  Haunsell  for  and  in  the  name  of  Anthony  Fugger  and  his  nephews  pro- 
vides:    For  the  sale  of  one  jewel  containing  four  rubies  marvellous  big, 
as  the  boy  king  described  it  in  his  Journal,  one  orient,   and  one  great 
diamond  and  one  great  pearl  for  £33,333-6s.-8d.  Flemish  to  be  paid  in 
Antwerp  without  interest  in  eleven  months.     For  the  sale  of  twelve  thous- 
and marks  weight  of  fine  silver  bullion  at  50s.  4  4/5d.  the  mark,  to  be 
delivered  at  Antwerp  by  the  last  of  August  next.     A  clause  protects  the 
Fuggers  in  case  of  lawful  impediment  to  the  delivery.       For  the  sale  to 
the  king  of  so  many  bales  of  fustians  as  shall  amount  to  £14,000  Flemish, 
to  be  paid  in  Antwerp  without  interest  April  30,  1552.     All  fustians  will 
be  sold  in  England  and  not  conveyed  beyond  sea  again.     Provision  is  also 
made  that  where  the  king  owes  Erasmus  Sheetz  and  Sons  £42,090  Flemish, 
payable    May    15,    1551,   the    Fugger    shall   pay   the    Sheetz   this   sum   of 
£42,090,  and  the  king  shall  repay  one  year  later,  with  interest  at  8  per 
cent.    Finally  where  the  king  owes  the  Fuggers  £38,976  Flemish,  payable 
August  15,  1551,  the  sum  is  respited  for  a  year  at  12  per  cent.     Treasury 


483]  THE  SCOTCH  AND  FRENCH  WARS,  1547-1550  187 

in  all  others,  the  Edwardian  councillors  were  simply  following, 
and  perhaps  bettering  the  examples  of  Henry  VIII.  They  paid 
the  same  interest,  14  per  cent,  they  renewed  and  prolonged  as 
he  had  done.  But  their  operations  were  on  a  larger  scale  and 
they  created  a  heavier  incubus  of  debt  to  burden  the  post-war 
period. 


of  Receipt,  Letters  Patent,  bundle  4,  No.  15/37.  A  letter  of  the  council 
dated  April  9,  1550,  to  Damosell  agent  in  Flanders  urges  him  to  do  the 
best  he  can,  for  prolongation  of  the  debt  due  in  May,  1550,  for  a  year 
longer.  He  is  to  accept  an  offer  to  prolong,  purchasing  2400  kintalls  of 
powder  at  50s.  a  kintall,  to  be  paid  at  the  end  of  the  year  also.  Acts  of 
the  Privy  Council,  n.  s.,  II,  426.  In  his  Journal  Edward  notes,  "debt 
of  30,0001,  and  odd  money  put  over  for  a  year,  and  there  was  bought 
2500  quintals  of  powder"  (Journal,  18). 

Other  loans  abroad  during  the  war  were,  13  October,  1547,  of  Anthony 
Fugger,  129,650  florins  to  be  repaid  March  31,  1548;  April,  1548,  of 
Lazrus  Tucher  167,218  florins;  11  September,  1549,  of  Anthony  Fugger 
328,800  florins  to  be  repaid  August  15,  1550;  5  May,  1550,  of  Erasmus 
Sheetz,  107,520  florins  to  be  repaid  May  15,  1551.  Treasury  of  Eeceipt, 
Letters  Patent,  bundle  4;  State  Papers,  Domestic,  Edward  VI,  IV,  5. 


CHAPTER  XV 

NORTHUMBERLAND'S  FAILURE,  1550-1553 

Peace  was  made  between  France  and  England  in  1550.  Among 
the  terms  of  treaty  was  a  provision  for  the  restoration  of  Bou- 
logne, of  which  the  capture,  fortification,  and  keeping  had  cost 
the  English  state  £1,342,550  in  five  and  one-half  years.  Its  sur- 
render for  nothing  would  have  been  a  great  financial  relief 
to  the  English  government ;  Henry  II  of  France  generously  paid 
400,000  crowns  (£133,333)  for  its  recovery.  For  months  after 
the  peace  was  signed  the  garrisons  at  Calais  and  in  the  north 
were  continued  at  their  full  war  strength,  because  "there  wanted 
money  to  dispatch  them, ' '  that  is  pay  their  arrears  of  wages  and 
discharge  them.  Although  there  seems  to  have  been  an  intention 
of  keeping  the  400,000  crowns  as  ready  money  available  in  emer- 
gencies—  the  first  payment  was  ordered  laid  up  in  the  Tower 
"for  all  purposes"  —  it  was  at  last  necessary  to  order  payments 
to  be  made  from  it  to  discharge  the  soldiers  and  meet  other 
charges.1  Despite  the  discharge  of  the  soldiers  from  Calais 
and  in  the  north,  there  remained  a  large  war  establishment, 
which  could  not  be,  or  was  not  at  once,  disbanded.  At  Calais 
the  ordinary  garrison  had  long  cost  £5,000  a  year  more  than  the 
rents  of  the  town  and  the  wool  customs  collected  by  the  merchants 

i  Acts  of  the  Privy  Council,  n.  s.,  Ill,  93.  Of  the  first  (half)  payment 
£10,000  were  sent  to  Calais;  £9,500  to  Ireland;  £15,166  to  the  north; 
£2,000  were  assigned  to  the  ordnance  department;  £1,000  to  Alderney,  and 
£1,000  to  the  Admirality.  Of  the  second  payment  of  200,000  crowns,  £8,000 
were  sent  at  once  to  Calais;  £5,000  to  the  north  and  £10,000  "was  ap- 
pointed to  be  occupied  to  win  -  money  to  pay  the  next  year,  pay  the  out- 
ward pays;  and  it  was  promised  that  the  money  should  double  every 
month"  (Journal  of  Edward  VI,  26).  The  scheme  by  which  the  money 
thus  invested  was  to  double  every  month  is  described  by  Froude,  in  History 
of  England,  V,  265. 

188 


485]  NORTHUMBERLAND'S  FAILURE,  1550-1553  189 

of  the  Staple,  while  the  cost  of  work  on  the  fortifications  and 
the  wages  of  the  extraordinary  crew  continued  at  over  £19,000 
a  year  in  addition.2  There  were  heavy  charges  for  works  and 
garrisons  at  Berwick,  and  on  the  Scotch  marches,  and  in  the 
various  blockhouses  or  forts  on  the  English  coast;3  there  were 
the  charges  of  the  admirality  and  ordnance  offices,  and  the  ex- 
penditures in  Ireland  above  the  Irish  revenues.  The  Irish  rev- 
enues, after  the  costs  of  the  civil  government  there  had  been 
paid  were  about  £4,700  sterling  a  year.  During  the  first  years 
of  Edward's  reign  the  island  had  been  aflame  with  insurrection; 
large  sums  had  been  sent  to  Ireland  for  military  purposes  which 
the  Irish  revenues  did  not  meet.  In  1550,  however,  it  was  re- 
solved that  Ireland  should  no  longer  be*  a  drain  on  the  English 
treasury;  the  situation  was  to  be  reversed,  and  Ireland  was  to 
contribute  to  the  royal  resources.  To  carry  out  the  new  policy, 
Anthony  St.  Leger  returned  as  deputy.*  He  was  as  little  success- 
ful in  making  Ireland  "pay"  as  Henry  VIII  had  been  in  a 
similar  scheme;  the  charges  of  the  necessary  military  establish- 
ment increased  by  leaps  and  bounds.  Whereas  in  1547  the  charges 
of  Ireland  were  £15,500,  in  1551  and  1552  they  rose  to  £42,000. 
The  Irish  revenue  did  not  increase;  the  deficit  had  to  be 
made  good  from  London.5 

Not  directly  due  to  the  war,  but  certainly  induced  in  part  by 
causes  connected  with  the  war  were  the  serious  increases  in 
the  costs  of  the  royal  household.  In  the  first  years  of  the  reign 
the  household  had  required  about  the  same  amount  of  money 
as  in  the  last  years  of  Henry  VIII  's  reign,  about  £38,000  a  year. 
In  1550  and  1551  the  expenditures  increased  to  £50,000  and 

2  Add.  Mss.  no.  30,198,  a  statement  of  the  revenues  for  the  year  1550- 
1551;  Declared  Accounts,  Pipe  Office,  2079,  account  of  Sir  Edward  Pekham. 
In  the  year  February,  1551,  to  March,  1552,  Pekham  paid  out  £25,500  for 
Calais  causes. 

s  These  required  £9733-17-7  for  the  year  1550- '51.  Add.  Mss.,  no.  30, 
198. 

<Froude,  History  of  England,  V,  392. 

s  Add.  MSB.,  no.  4767,  f.  99;  f.  160.  The  yearly  charge  in  Ireland  is 
given  in  the  latter  paper;  anno  1,  Edward  VI,  £15,958;  anno  2,  £21,024; 
anno  3,  £27,113;  anno  4,  £20,566;  anno  5,  £42,986;  anno  6,  £42,  609.  All 
sums  are  in  sterling  money. 


190  ENGLISH  GOVERNMENT  FINANCE  [486 

£56,000.8  This  was  in  part  due  to  increased  luxury  at  the  court, 
in  part  in  all  probability  to  peculation  by  officials,  but  in  greatest 
part  to  the  rise  in  prices.  A  similar  increase,  on  a  much  smaller 
scale,  is  to  be  noticed  in  the  wardrobe  expenditures.  And  while 
the  government  was  endeavoring  to  meet  all  these  great  pay- 
ments and  increases,  in  addition  to  normal  state  expenditures, 
it  was  constantly  reminded  of  the  unpaid  debts  in  the  household, 
wardrobe  and  chamber,  and  of  the  great  loans  raised  abroad  at 
14  per  cent  interest,  which  somehow  had  to  be  paid. 

Government  finances  were  studied  by  the  council  between 
1550  and  1553  with  a  zeal  which  shows  how  clearly  the  serious- 
ness of  the  problem  was  realized.  One  investigation,  carried  out 
by  Thomas  Lord  Darcy  Lord  Chamberlain,  Thomas,  Bishop  of 
Norwich,  Sir  Richard  Cotton  Controller  of  the  Household,  Sir 
John  Gates  Vice-Chamberlain,  Sir  Robert  Bowes  Master  of  the 
Rolls,  and  Sir  "Walter  Milday  one  of  the  General  Surveyors  of 
the  Court  of  Augmentations,  for  the  year  Michaelmas,  1550  to 
Michaelmas,  1551,  showed  that  the  clear  normal  income  from  all 
sources,  deducting  fixed  charges,  grants  and  annuities,  was 
£168,150.  The  fees  of  the  royal  officials,  ministers  and  servants, 
the  ordinary  household  and  wardrobe  assignments,7  the  expenses 
of  the  audit  courts,  the  charges  for  decays  and  reparations,  and 
the  charges  for  certain  garrisons,  that  is  to  say,  the  normal  gov- 
ern payments,  were  £131,600.  There  was  available  thus  a  balance 
of  £36,550.  From  this  sum  the  committee  reported,  there  had 
to  be  met  the  charges  of  the  admirality,  of  the  ordnance,  of  the 
king's  privy  purse,  the  New  Year's  gifts,  the  charges  at  Calais 

6  Declared   Accounts,  Pipe   Office,   1795.     Household   expenditures   for 
the  year 

1547-48         £38,804-  6s.-6d. 
1548-49  41,359-  3s.-4d. 

1549-50  50,778-16s.-4d. 

1550-51  56,806-13s.-8d. 

1551-52  55,791-15s.-9d. 

1552-53  51,903-10s.-2d. 

The  increase  is  not  however  nearly  so  great  as  has  been  alleged. 

7  Prom   time   to  time   each   court   was   ordered   to   set  aside   and  pay 
regularly  a  certain  sum  for  the  household.     These  sums  amounting  in  all 
to  £41,864  in  1551-52  were  the  household  assignment.     The  expenditures 
in    the   household   exceeded    the    assignment    in    every    year    of    Edward's 
reign.    See  above,  note  6  of  this  chapter. 


487]  NORTHUMBERLAND'S  FAILURE,  1550-1553  191 

and  in  Ireland  above  the  revenues  there,  and  the  extra  charges 
in  the  household  above  the  assignment.  The  various  military 
establishments  alone  —  Calais,  Ireland,  the  navy,  the  North  and 
Berwick,  the  ordnance  and  so  forth  —  took  more  than  £112,000 
from  February,  1551,  to  Michaelmas,  1552,  or  at  the  rate  of 
£80,000  a  year.8  The  extra  charges  in  the  household  in  the  year 
1551  were  £15,000  more  than  the  assignment.  Even  with  the 
addition  of  the  subsidy  of  £43,260  paid  in  April,  1551,  there  was 
not  enough  money  available  from  the  revenues  to  meet  the  cur- 
rent charges.  Then  some  way  must  be  found  to  pay  off  the  war 
debts  of  £250,000  owing  in  England  and  Flanders.9  It  was  fur- 
ther deemed  desirable  to  "get  £50,000  of  treasure  money  for  all 
events,"  that  is  accumulate  a  new  surplus,10  and  finally  money 
had  to  be  found  for  the  new  standing  army,  the  bands  of  horse- 
men attached  to  Northumberland's  most  devoted  partisans,  or- 
ganized in  December,  1551.11 

In  the  expedients  which  were  used  to  remedy  this  alarming 
deficiency,  resort  was  had  to  all  the  old  devices,  betraying  a 
sterility  of  ideas  and  the  failure  to  grasp  the  cause  of  the  sit- 
uation. Solemnly  the  council  determined  upon  a  policy  of  re- 
trenchment. The  garrisons  at  little  blockhouses  like  Porland 
and  Pendivis  were  reduced  by  from  two  to  four  men  each,  and 
several  small  forts  were  discontinued,12  with  a  saving  of  £583 
12s.  6d.  a  year.13  The  tables  of  the  "young  lords"  and  others 
in  the  household  were  discontinued,  auditorships  were  abolished 
to  save  fees,  and  workmen  discharged.1*  As  early  as  1551  at- 

s  Declared  Accounts,  Pipe  Office,  2079;  account  of  Sir  Edmund  Pekham, 
high  treasurer  of  the  mints. 

»  The  amount  of  the  debt  is  variously  stated.  An  entry  in  Edward's 
Journal  (p.  66)  puts  the  sum  at  £251,000  at  least  in  May,  1552;  a  paper 
of  Cecil's,  before  November,  1552,  puts  it  at  £241,179  (Lansd.  Mss.,  II,  f. 
125);  another  paper  of  1552  gives  it  at  £235,700  and  still  another  at 
£219,686  (State  Papers,  Domestic,  Edward  VI,  XV,  13,  14).  At  least 
£132,372  was  due  to  the  money  lenders  in  Flanders,  and  £108,800  was  owed, 
in  England. 

11  Acts  of  the  Privy  Council,  n.  s.,  Ill,  339;  IV,  4,  15,  132. 

estate  Papers,  Domestic,  Edward  VI,  XIII,  10,  11,  12;  Acts  of  the 
Privy  Council,  n.  s.,  IV,  130. 

is  Acts  of  the  Privy  Council,  n.  s.,  IV,  139. 

i*  Journal  of  Edward  VI,  79;  Acts  of  the  Privy  Council,  n.  s.,  Ill,  316; 

10  Literary  Bemains  of  Edward  VI,  II,  543,  note  in  the  king's  own  hand. 


192  ENGLISH   GOVERNMENT   FINANCE  [488 

tention  was  directed  to  the  superfluous  charges  of  the  large 
number  of  revenue  courts,  with  too  many  officers  and  too  little 
business.15  They  escaped  pruning  for  the  moment  because  an 
office  in  a  revenue  court  was  a  vested  interest,  a  property  right, 
which  could  be  abolished  by  the  state  only  in  return  for  the 
compensation  of  a  life  pension.16  In  the  spring  of  1552  the  re- 
duction of  the  fleet  was  ordered,  and  it  was  even  suggested  that 
some  of  the  king 's  old  ships  be  let  to  rent,  and  hulks  of  no  more 
value  be  sold.17  There  was  however,  no  mention  of  retrenchment 
or  restriction  in  the  plunder  of  the  crown  by  the  council  in  the 
form  of  grants  of  land  to  the  councillors  themselves,  though  it 
is  true  that  the  grants  of  the  fifth,  sixth  and  seventh  years  did 
not  equal  in  extent  those  of  the  fourth  year  of  the  reign. 

In  all  the  revenue  courts  there  were  great  arrears  of  overdue 
rents  and  revenues  owing  to  the  crown  through  many  years. 
"My  debts  owing  me"  after  this  sort  were  estimated  by  Edward 
to  be  £100,000.18  In  times  of  stringency  in  the  middle  period 
of  Henry  VIII 's  reign  it  was  a  much  used  practice  "to  call  in 
the  debts. ' '  So  at  this  time.  In  February  of  1551,  the  treasurer 
and  chancellor  of  the  Augmentations  were  commanded  to  bring 
in  with  all  diligence  a  book  of  all  such  debts  and  arrearages 
as  are  due  to  the  king's  majesty  in  that  court,  and  it  may  be 
that  similar  commands  were  sent  to  the  other  treasurers.19  Late 
in  the  same  year  and  in  1552  commissioners  were  appointed  to 
call  in  the  debts.20  They  succeeded  in  collecting  £16,667  before 
Michaelmas,  1552.21  Something,  too,  was  expected  from  the  fa- 

IV,  102,  115,  160,  260.  See  also  .Journal  of  Edward  VI,  65,  83,  for  re- 
trenchment in  the  mint  and  Ireland. 

is  Literary  Remains  of  Edward  VI,  II,  500,  543. 

is  When  the  Court  of  the  General  Surveyors  was  amalagated  with  the 
Court  of  Augmentations,  January  1,  1547,  the  officials  of  the  older  court 
for  whom  no  place  could  be  found  were  given  pensions  or  annuities  of 
more  than  £3,000  a  year.  See  Appendix,  .Disbursements  of  the  Court  of 
Augmentations. 

17  Acts  of  the  Privy  Council,  n.  s.,  IV,  46;  State  Papers,  Domestic, 
Edward  VI,  XIII,  10,  11,  12. 

is  Literary  Remains  of  Edward  VI,  II,  550. 

is  Acts  of  the  Privy  Council,  n.  s.,  Ill,  228. 

20  Journal  of  Edward  VI,  56,  58 ;  Literary  Remains,  II,  500. 

21  Augmentations    Office,    Treasurer's   Roll   of   Accounts,    no.    10.      All 
debts  were  ordered  paid  to  Peter  Osborne,  who  was  to  act  as  a  special 
treasurer,  keeping  the  money  to  the  king 's  use. 


489]  NORTHUMBERLAND'S  FAILURE,  1550-1553  193 

miliar  device  of  Empson  and  Dudley.  For  in  March,  1552,  a 
committee  of  the  council  was  appointed  to  examine  the  penal 
laws  and  put  certain  of  them  into  execution.22  It  seems  to  have 
been  decided  to  enforce  those  touching  horses  and  plows,  riots, 
the  planting  and  grafting  of  trees,  the  cutting  of  wood  and 
billets  and  forestalling  and  regrating.23  The  sale  of  the  king's 
gunpowder,  fustians,  and  copper,  which  he  had  been  compelled 
to  take  as  "fee  penny"  for  the  prolongation  of  the  Flanders 
loans,  and  the  sale  of  "certain  jewels,"  bell-metal  and  lead, 
part  of  the  spoil  of  the  church  was  tried.24  Next,  the  completion 
of  the  confiscation  of  the  church  plate,  and  the  sale  of  church 
goods  and  ornaments  was  ordered  and  carried  through.  In  1549 
commissioners  had  taken  inventories  of  ornaments,  plate,  jewels, 
bells,  and  vestments  in  all  churches,  forbidding  the  sale  or  em- 
bezzlement of  any  part  of  them.25  On  February  26,  1551,  it 
was  decreed  in  the  council  that  "forasmuch  as  the  king's  majesty 
had  need  presently  of  a  mass  of  money,  therefore  commissions 
should  be  addressed  into  all  shires  of  England  to  take  into  the 
king's  hands  such  church  plate  as  remaineth  to  be  employed 
unto  his  highness'  use."  The  first  commissioners  for  the  plate 
and  goods  were  sent  out  in  the  spring  of  1552  ;26  they  were  fol- 
lowed by  others,  who,  still  busy  in  the  spring  of  1553,  were  urged 
by  the  council  to  greater  speed.27  From  "church  plate  super- 
fluous" being  coined,  it  was  estimated  that  £20,000  would  be 

22  Journal  of  Edward  VI,  62. 

23 Literary  Remains,  II,  543.  Memorandum  in  the  king's  own  hand, 
entitled,  "Matters  for  the  council,  October  3,  1552.  How  a  mass  of 
money  may  be  gotten  to  discharge  the  sum  of  £300,000  both  for  discharge 
of  debts,  and  also  to  get  £50,000  of  treasure  money  for  all  events." 

2*  Acts  of  the  Privy  Council,  n.  s.,  IV,  108,  Literary  Bemains,  II,  543. 
£49,133  was  received  from  the  sale  of  such  goods,  1552-1553,  Augmenta- 
tions Office,  Treasurer's  Boll  of  Accounts,  no.  8. 

25  State  Papers,  Domestic,  Edward  VI,  VI,  25. 

26  Acts  of  the  Privy  Council,  n.  s.,  Ill,  228,  223,  467,  536;  Journal  of 
Edward  VI,  65. 

27  Acts  of  the  Privy  Council,  n.  s.,  IV,  219,  265,  270.     Fofl  volumes  of 
the  reports  of  the  commissioners  detailing  their  activities,  and  sometimes 
excusing  themselves  for  not  being  able  to  do  more  for  the  king's  advan- 
tage and  other  interesting  comments,  see  B.  M.  Stowe  Mss.,  Vols.  147,  827. 
The  bulk  of  the  reports  is  in  the  Records  Office;  those  of  certain  counties 
have  been  published.     The  best  general  account  is  in  Dixon,  History  of 
the  Church  of  England,  III,  448ff. 


194  ENGLISH  GOVERNMENT  FINANCE  [490 

realized  and  from  the  sale  of  church  goods  £10,772  was  re- 
ceived.28 Other  developments  however  returned  some  of  the 
plate  to  the  churches  in  Mary's  reign.  Finally  in  their  quest 
for  money,  the  council  turned  to  the  mint. 

For  many  years  the  mint  had  been  the  great  recourse  of  the 
government  in  times  of  storm  and  stress.  The  evils  of  the  de- 
basement of  the  coinage,  the  exportation  of  all  the  good  money, 
especially  the  gold  in  the  country,  and  the  adverse  foreign  ex- 
change, together  with  the  effect  of  the  debasement  on  prices, 
were  by  now  clearly  recognized  by  writers,  merchants,  and  the 
popular  preachers.29  Even  the  council  was  convinced  of  the 
necessity  of  restoring  the  standard  of  the  fineness  of  the  coins. 
The  first  necessary  step  in  doing  this,  as  Lane,  the  London  mer- 
chant, had  pointed  out  to  Cecil,  was  the  "calling  down"  of  the 
value  of  the  testoun,  groat  and  penny  to  their  intrinsic  silver- 
content  value.  This  was  first  considered  in  the  council  in  April, 
1551.  But  fatuously  enough,  it  was  decided  that  there  should 
be  one  last  orgy  of  debasement  before  the  proclamations  for 
calling  down  were  issued,  "to  get  gains  of  £160,000  clear  by 
which  the  debt  of  the  realm  might  be  paid,  the  country  defended 
from  any  sudden  attempt,  and  the  coin  amended."  And  so  "for 
the  discharge  of  debts  and  to  get  some  treasure  to  be  able  to  alter 
all,"  that  is  to  meet  the  expenses  of  altering  and  bettering  the 
standard,  twenty  thousand  pounds  weight  of  bullion  was  ordered 
to  be  coined  three  ounces  of  silver  and  nine  ounces  of  alloy.30 
But  before  two  months  were  out,  the  misgivings  of  the  council 
were  such  that  is  was  decided  not  to  proceed  after  £80,000  of 
money  of  the  standard  of  three  ounces  fine  together  with  ten  thou- 
sand marks  weight  of  four  ounces  fine  had  been  coined.  But  be- 
cause of  the  changes  in  the  fortifications  at  Calais  and  Berwick, 

28 Literary  Remains,  II,  550,  Edward's  memorandum;  R.  0.,  State  Pa- 
pers, Domestic,  Edward  VI,  XV,  42,  a  paper  by  Cecil;  Declared  Accounts, 
Pipe  Office,  2080. 

29  Cotton,  Mss.,  Vesperian  D.,  18,  papers  of  William  Thomas,  clerk 
of  the  council;  State  Papers,  Domestic,  Edward  V,  XIII,,  3,  a  letter  of 
"William  Lane,  merchant  of  London,  to  William  Cecil,  January  18,  1551. 
This  letter  is  printed  by  Froude,  History  of  England,  V,  266.  Latimer, 
Sermons,  (Parker  Society),  68,  95,  136,  137;  John  Hales,  A  Discourse  of  the 
Commonwealth  of  this  Realm  of  England,  (Edition  of  1892),  104. 

so  Journal  of  Edward  VI,  33,  April  10,  1551. 


491]  NORTHUMBERLAND'S  FAILURE,  1550-1553  195 

it  was  agreed  three  weeks  later  to  issue  another  £40,000  of  a 
standard  of  three  ounces  fine  while  five  thousand  pounds  weight 
of  silver  should  be  coined  seven  ounces  fine  at  least,31  Thus  the 
council  vaccillated  between  regard  for  the  opinion  of  the  people, 
and  need  for  money.  In  July  the  mints  were  ordered  to  stop 
coining,32  not  however  until  £114,500  had  been  taken  from  the 
people  of  England  in  the  profits  of  the  recent  debasement.33  In 
September,  1551,  the  council  directed  the  mints  to  begin  the  coin- 
age of  good  money  of  the  standard  of  eleven  ounces  and  one 
pennyweight  of  silver  and  nineteen  pennyweights  of  alloy.  A 
month  later  when  the  new  coinage  was  actually  being  issued,  the 
council  ordered  the  lord  chancellor  ' '  to  haste  forth  the  proclama- 
tion of  the  coin  for  the  satisfaction  of  the  people. ' '  This  last  clause 
probably  carries  the  explanation  of  why  the  council  did  not 
dare  to  issue  any  more  debased  money,  although  in  the  spring  of 
1552  the  project  was  reconsidered.3* 

From  all  these  sources  large  sums  were  received,  but  prac- 
tically everything  that  came  in  from  them  was  used  for  current 
charges  in  Ireland,  at  Berwick  and  Calais,  and  for  the  fleet  and 
ordnance.  But  little  was  available  for  the  payment  of  the  bonds 
held  in  Flanders  by  the  Fuggers  and  the  Sheetz.  In  March,  1551, 
the  Fuggers  renewed  a  bond  and  accepted  new  obligations,  pro- 
vided that  the  king  purchase  bullion  and  jewels.35  "When  the 
time  for  first  payment  of  the  new  bonds  came,  Sir  Philip 
Hobbey  took  £53,500  Flemish  in  French  crowns  over  seas  with 
him  —  probably  the  last  remaining  portion  of  the  Boulogne 
ransom  money,  —  but  had  to  borrow  £10,000  Flemish  of  Lazarus 
Tucher  at  seven  per  cent  for  six  months  to  make  up  the  pay. 
At  the  end  of  April,  1552,  £14,000  additional  was  due  the 
Fuggers,  which  was  paid  possibly  by  a  new  loan.39  In  May 

^  Ibid.,  35,  May  30;  37,  June  18,  1551. 

32  Acts  of  the  Privy  Council,  n.  s.,  Ill,  316,  July  17,  1551. 

33  Declared  Accounts,  Pipe  Office,  2079,  account  of  Sir  Edward  Pekham, 
high  treasurer  of  the  mint. 

s*  State  Papers,  Domestic,  Edward  VI,  XIII,.  47,  directions  for  the  new 
standard,  Sept.  25,  1551.  Between  October  and  December,  1551,  6543 
pounds  weight  of  silver  worth  more  than  £21,000  were  coined  (Declared 
Accounts,  Pipe  Office,  2079).  See  also  Acts  of  the  Privy  Council,  n.  8., 
Ill,  400;  IV,  57,  102. 

a5  See  above,  p.   186  note.     See  also,  Journal  of  Edivard  VI,  33. 

sa  Ibid.,  60,  62,  63,  65,  66;  Acts  of  the  Privy  Council,  n.  s.,  IV,  27. 


196  ENGLISH   GOVERNMENT   FINANCE  [492 

a  debt  of  £6,180  Flemish  due  Jasper  Sheetz  was  paid  out  of 
the  money  that  came  from  the  king 's  old  debts.37  But  regarding 
another  bond  of  £45,000  due  to  the  Fuggers  in  May,  1552,  "a 
letter  was  sent  to  the  Foulcare, ' '  writes  the  king  in  his  journal, 
"that  I  have  paid  £63,000  Flemish  in  February,  and  £14,000 
in  April,  which  came  to  £77,000  Flemish,  which  was  a  fair  sum 
of  money  to  be  paid  in  one  year,  chiefly  in  this  busy  world, 
whereas  it  is  most  necessary  to  be  had  for  princes.  Besides 
this,  that  it  was  thought  money  should  not  now  do  him  so  much 
pleasure  as  at  another  time  peradventure.  Upon  these  con- 
siderations they  had  advised  me  to  pay  but  £5,000  of  the  £45,500 
I  now  owe  and  so  put  over  the  rest  according  to  the  old  interest 
14  per  cent  with  which  I  desired  him  to  take  patience. " 38  In 
August  a  bond  for  £56,600  fell  due.  Gresham,  the  government 
agent  in  Flanders,  had  no  money  to  meet  the  payment ;  he  secured 
an  agreement  for  prolongation  on  the  usual  terms  that  the 
government  purchase  certain  fustians  and  diamonds  of  the 
lenders.  The  council  in  Northumberland's  absence  refused  the 
conditions.  The  king,  Gresham  was  informed,  would  pay  as 
soon  as  he  could ;  until  he  did  so  the  bankers  must  wait.  Gresham 
insisted  that  the  loan  must  not  be  defaulted,  or  the  country 
would  be  brought  to  shame. 

In  the  early  summer  months  of  1552  the  council  register 
shows  that  the  treasuries  were  often  actually  empty;  in  August 
payments  by  the  government  were  actually  suspended,  ' '  for  that 
his  highness  is  presently  in  Progress  and  resolved  not  to  be 
troubled  with  payments  until  his  return. ' ' 39  The  acme  of  the 
crisis  had  come.  It  brought  with  it  the  failure  of  Northumber- 
land's plan  to  seize  the  government.  For  at  Michaelmas,  1552, 
the  gens  d'armes,  the  mercenary  army  which  Northumberland 
had  gathered  in  December,  1551,  had  to  be  disbanded  for  lack 
of  money.  Against  money  and  metal,  the  weight  of  guns  and 
mercenaries,  Mary  and  her  followers  could  not  have  raised  up 
their  heads.  But  without  money,  and  hence  without  the  mer- 
cenary soldiers,  Northumberland  had  no  chance  against  the 
divinity  that  doth  hedge  about  a  king,  and  the  magic  of  the 

3T  Journal  of  Edward  VI,  68.    Acts  of  the  Privy  Council,  n.  s.,  IV,  58. 

as  Journal  of  Edward  VI,  66. 

39  Acts  of  the  Privy  Council,  n.  s.,  IV,  109,  August  8,  1552. 


493]  NORTHUMBERLAND'S  FAILURE,  1550-1553  197 

Tudor  name.  With  the  discharge  of  the  mercenaries  North- 
umnberland  disarmed  himself,  and  all  possibilities  of  his  success 
were  gone. 

•  In  the  summer  of  1552  Northumberland  probably  expected  a 
longer  reprieve  than  he  was  to  have  before  the  test.  The  gov- 
ernment was  bankrupt,  but  if  there  was  time  enough  all  might 
still  be  mended.  Kather  bravely  Northumberland  attempted  to 
retrieve  the  situation  by  the  use  of  heroic  measures.  The  man- 
agement of  the  finances  he  turned  over  to  William  Cecil,  who 
in  later  years  was  to  become  the  greatest  master  of  governmental 
finances  of  the  sixteenth  century.40  The  mayor  and  aldermen 
of  the  city  of  London  endorsed  the  new  loans  in  Flanders;41 
the  merchants  of  the  Staple  and  the  Merchant  Adventurers 
advanced  money  to  the  government  to  meet  its  obligations,  and 
took  over  the  payment  of  loans  as  they  fell  due.42  In  these 
days,  too,  the  accounts  of  Northumberland's  political  opponents 
who  had  held  important  financial  offices  were  investigated,  and 

40  A  note  book  of  June  and  June  and  July,  1552,  in  Cecil's  hand  (B.  0. 
State  Papers,  Domestic,  Edward  VI,  XIV,  53),  shows  him  very  much  inter- 
ested in  all  government  business,  especially  disbursements  of  money.  In 
the  following  montths  there  were  many  memoranda  from  his  hand,  showing 
the  debts,  with  fruitful  suggestions  for  amending  the  situation  (State 
Papers,  Domestic,  Edward  VI,  XV,  13,  17,  42). 

*iActs  of  the  Privy  Council,  n.  s.,  IV,  29,  129,  April  and  September, 
1552. 

42  In  July  the  merchants  of  the  Staple  were  desired  by  the  council  to 
advance  by  way  of  prest  or  loan  some  good  portion  of  money  besides 
the  sums  as  should  be  due  for  the  wool  custom  at  this  shipping.  In 
October,  in  anticipation  of  the  "pay"  of  £48,000  to  be  made  in  December 
"beyond  seas"  the  Merchant  Adventurers  agreed  to  lend  the  king  £40,000 
repayable  in  March,  1553.  The  sum  was  assessed  by  the  merchants  upon 
themselves  at  the  rate  of  20s.  for  each  cloth  exported.  It  was  estimated 
that  at  this  shipping  they  would  carry  40,000  broad  cloths.  The  grant  was 
confirmed  by  a  "company"  assembled  of  300  Merchant  Adventurers, 
October  4,  1552.  A  month  later  the  Staplers  agreed  to  take  over  a  loan 
of  £21,000  due  to  the  Fuggers  on  February  15,  1553,  paying  £10,000 
before  the  day,  and  the  balance  "on  prorogation"  —  "for  which  they 
must  pay  the  interest."  In  the  spring  of  1553  the  Staplers  and  the 
Adventurers  assumed  responsibility  for  the  payment  of  £43,771  due  to  the 
Fuggers,  the  Sheetz,  the  Bellingers  and  Francis  van  Hall  (Journal  of 
Edward  VI,  80;  Acts  of  the  Privy  Council,  n.  s.,  IV,  169,  267).  Repay- 
ment was  made  to  the  merchants  out  of  money  from  the  land  sales. 


198  ENGLISH   GOVERNMENT   FINANCE  [494 

Beaumont,  Whalley  and  Paget  compelled  to  disgorge  great  sums. 
Northumberland  contemplated  going  much  further  in  these  in- 
vestigations, to  discover  whether  the  crown  had  been  justly 
answered  of  the  plate,  lead  and  iron  that  belonged  to  the 
abbeys,  the  profit  of  alum,  copper,  and  fustians  appointed  to  be 
sold,  and  such  land  as  Henry  VIII  had  sold.  He  was  minded 
to  examine  the  accounts  of  the  treasurers  and  receivers  of  the 
various  revenue  courts,  and  finally  ' '  to  call  on  everyone  who  had 
received  money  in  behalf  of  the  crown  since  the  year  1532  to 
produce  his  books  and  submit  them  to  an  audit. ' ' 43 

The  sale  of  crown  lands,  which  had  almost  ceased  since  the 
making  of  peace  with  France,  possibly  out  of  the  realization  that 
sales  and  gifts  could  not  proceed  concurrently  without  ultimate 
disaster,  was  renewed  on  a  larger  scale  than  ever  before  in  the 
reign.  In  May,  July  and  October  new  commissions  of  sales 
were  issued  for  the  sale  of  chantry  and  other  crown  estates, 
together  with  rectories,  parsonages,  advowsons  and  other  spir- 
itualities.44 Sir  Edmund  Pekham  was  appointed  special  treas- 
urer to  receive  the  money  coming  of  the  sales.  In  the  year  from 
Michaelmas,  1552  to  Michaelmas  1553,  he  received  £153,479 
in  purchase  money,  while  £16,623  was  paid  into  the  Court  of 
Augmentations.45 

These  ways  and  means  proving  less  effective  than  had  been 
expected,  the  council  began,  in  December,  1552,  to  plan  for  a 
parliamentary  grant.  Northumberland  approved  the  action, 
"necessarily  considering  that  there  is  none  other  remedy  to 
bring  his  majesty  out  of  the  great  debts  wherein  for  one  great 
part  he  was  left  by  his  highness  father  .  .  ,  and  augmented 
by  the  wilful  government  of  the  late  Duke  of  Somerset,  who 
took  upon  him  the  Protectorship  and  government  of  his  own  au- 
thority. His  highness,  by  the  prudence  of  his  father,  left  in 
peace  with  all  princes,  suddenly,  by  that  man's  unskillful  pro- 
tectorship and  less  expert  in  government  was  plunged  into  wars 
whereby  his  majesty's  charges  were  suddenly  increased  unto  the 

43  Journal  of  Edward  VI,  84.     Froude,  History  of  England,  V,  425. 

44  Acts  of  tlie  Privy  Council,  n.   s.,  IV,  46,  133;    Add.  Mss.,  5498,  f. 
?9 ;  Journal  of  Edward  VI,  66. 

45  Declared  Accounts,  Pipe  Office,  2080;  Augmentations  Office,  Treas- 
urer's Eoll  of  Accounts,  no.  8. 


495]  NORTHUMBERLAND'S  FAILURE,  1550-1553  199 

point  of  six  or  seven  score  thousand  pounds  a  year  over  and 
above  the  charges  for  the  keeping  of  Boulogne  .  .  These 
things  being  now  so  onerous  and  weighty  to  the  king's  majesty, 
and  having  all  this  while  been  put  off  by  the  best  means  we 
have  been  able  to  devise,  although  but  slender  shifts  in  compar- 
ison, the  same  is  grown  to  such  an  extremity  as  without  it  be 
speedily  helpen  by  your  (the  council's)  wise  heads  both  dis- 
honor and  peril  may  likely  follow.  And  seeing  there  is  none 
other  honorable  means  to  reduce  these  evils  grown  by  the  occasion 
afore  rehearsed,  I  think  there  be  no  man  that  beareth  his 
obedient  duty  to  his  sovereign  lord  and  country  but  must  of 
consequence  conform  himself  to  think  this  way  (of  a  subsidy) 
most  honorable;  for  the  sale  of  lands  you  have  proved,  the 
seeking  of  every  man's  doings  in  office  you  mind  to  try,  and 
yet  you  perceive  all  this  cannot  help  to  salve  the  sore."  In  the 
last  sentence  of  the  letter  Northumberland  refers  to  the  ' '  danger 
of  murmuring  or  grudging  that  you  (the  council)  mind  to 
avoid."46  The  difficulty  of  the  situation  which  made  the 
council  fear  "murmuring  and  grudging"  was  that  it  was  de- 
signed to  ask  a  tax,  which  was  preeminently  a  war  measure,  in 
a  time  of  peace.  The  cloak  of  loyalty  and  patriotism  could  not 
be  used  to  quiet  opposition.  The  interests  of  the  crown  and  the 
people,  the  unity  of  which  was  the  foundation  of  the  Tudor 
commonwealth,  were  not  identical  here  and  embarrassing  ques- 
tions might  be  asked  concerning  the  new-gotten  wealth  of  the 
chief  ministers.  One  of  the  council  busied  himself  with  a  book 
of  "arguments  and  collections,"  apparently  refuting  all  pos- 
sible arguments  against  the  new  taxes,  especially  arguments 
based  on  references  to  the  gifts  of  land  by  the  council  to  them- 
selves. Northumberland  did  not  understand  the  new  spirit  of 
inquiry  and  liberalism  which  was  in  the  air.  He  returned  the 
book  with  part  of  his  simple  mind  scribbled  upon  the  margin. 
' '  There  is  no  need  to  be  so  ceremonious  as  to  imagine  the  objects 
of  every  forward  person,  but  rather  to  burden  their  minds  and 
hearts  with  the  king's  extreme  debts  and  the  necessity  grown  and 
risen  by  such  occasions  and  means  as  cannot  be  denied  by  no 
man,  and  that  we  need  not  to  seem  to  make  a  count  to  the 
commons  of  his  majesty's  liberality  and  bountifulness  in  aug- 

46  State  Papers,  Domestic,  Edward  VI,  XV,  73,  December  28,  1552. 


200  ENGLISH   GOVERNMENT   FINANCE  [496 

menting  or  advancing  of  his  nobles  or  of  his  benevolence  showed 
to  any  his  good  servants  lest  you  might  thereby  make  them 
wanton  and  give  them  occasion  to  take  hold  of  your  own  argu- 
ments. But  as  it  shall  become  no  subject  to  argue  the  matter 
so  far,  so  if  any  should  be  so  far  out  of  reason,  the  matter  will 
always  answer  itself  with  honor  and  reason  to  their  confuting 
and  shame. ' ' 4T 

The  grant  demanded  was  the  usual  subsidy  and  two  fifteenths 
and  tenths;  there  was  nothing  ''vast"  about  it.  Yet  such  was 
the  public  temper,  that  even  in  the  parliament  of  1553,  rather 
an  assembly  of  notables  than  a  representative  body,  the  measure 
was  debated;  the  commons'  journal  notes  "arguments"  on  two 
days,  and  a  ' '  consultation  in  the  Star  Chamber. ' ' 48  Some  fur- 
ther indication  of  the  unpopularity  of  the  tax  may  be  gleaned 
from  the  rejoicing  with  which  Mary's  remission  of  the  subsidy 
as  one  of  her  first  acts  was  greeted.  "There  was  a  marvellous 
noise  of  rejoicing  and  giving  the  queen  thanks  in  Chepeside  by 
the  people  for  the  same. ' ' 49  That  the  people  of  England  in 
parliament  gained  control  of  the  government  by  virtue  of  par- 
liamentary control  of  taxation  is  often  stated.  But  it  must  not 
be  overlooked  that  control  of  the  government  by  the  people  was 
possible  of  accomplishment  only  as  the  people  recognized  the 
government  as  belonging  to  them,  and  were  willing  to  assume 
the  burdens  of  the  finances  of  the  state.  This  was  not  yet  true 
in  the  sixteenth  century. 

There  was  for  Northumberland  one  salvation,  not  fifteenths 
and  tenths  and  subsidies,  but  the  last  remaining  endowments  of 
the  church,  the  bishops'  estates.  The  last  possible  phase  of 
the  policy  begun  by  Cromwell  had  in  fact  already  been  entered. 
In  1550  the  newly  founded  bishopric  of  Westminster  was  dis- 
solved and  united  to  the  see  of  London,  which  was  forced  to 
neutralize  any  advantages  of  the  union  by  the  surrender  of 
various  manors  to  the  crown.  In  1551,  Ponet  on  his  trans- 
lation to  Winchester  alienated  the  whole  of  the  patrimony  of 

47  State  Papers,  Domestic,  Edward  VI,  XVIII,  6,  January  14,  1553. 

48  Commons  Journal,   I,    March   6-11,    1553.     The   clergy   also   made  a 
grant  of  six  shillings  in  the  pound  of  the  value  of  their  livings,  payable 
in  three  years  (Statutes,  7  Edward  VI,  c.  12,  13). 

*9  The  Chronicle  of  Queen  Jane  and  of  Two  Years  of  Queen  Mary, 
(Camden  Society),  48. 


497]  NORTHUMBERLAND'S  FAILURE,  1550-1553  201 

the  see  to  the  crown  for  a  fixed  stipend  of  two  thousand  marks. 
In  1552  the  see  of  Gloucester  was  dissolved,  its  estates  annexed  to 
the  crown  and  its  diocese  to  that  of  Worcester.  True,  the 
crown  had  profited  little;  most  of  the  land  acquired  from 
bishops'  estates  had  been  at  once  regranted  to  courtiers.  The 
great  attack  was  begun  in  the  parliament  of  1553.  A  bill  was 
passed  for  the  division  of  the  great  diocese  of  Durham,  with 
the  spoliation  of  its  lands  for  the  benefit  of  the  crown  and  North- 
umberland.60 

But  before  the  Revolution  could  recoup  itself  by  further  de- 
velopment in  the  way  of  the  Henrician  and  Cromwellian  tradi- 
tion of  the  increase  of  the  crown  estates  at  the  expense  of  the 
church,  and  rearm  itself  against  the  reaction,  the  boy  king 
died.  His  death  came  a  little  too  soon  for  the  success  of  North- 
umberland's plans. 


so  Dixon,  History  of  the  Church  of  England,  III,  197-8,  274,  471,  511. 


CHAPTER  XVI 

RECONSTRUCTION  UNDER  MARY,  1553-1558 

"Sterility,"  writes  Pollard,  "was  the  conclusive  note  of  Mary's 
reign."  It  was  a  "palpable  failure."  Yet  one  exception  must 
be  taken  to  Mr.  Pollard's  sweeping  condemnation.  In  the 
matter  of  government  finance  there  was  a  real  and  important 
advance,  without  which  the  work  of  Elizabeth  could  not  have 
begun  so  auspiciously.  Like  spendthrifts  wasting  their  capital 
funds,  the  late  Henrician  and  Edwardian  governments  had  re- 
duced and  alienated  crown  possessions  and  resources  to  tide 
over  financial  crises.  What  was  left  was  now  so  carefully  hus- 
banded that  it  was  mad£  to  serve  the  requirements  of  the  state 
for  another  half  century.  This  was  the  constructive  work  of 
Mary's  government.  The  religious  reaction  which  Mary  person- 
ified made  it  impossible  to  go  forward  to  those  new  developments 
of  the  Tudor  policy  which  Northumberland  was  planning,  and 
had  already  begun,  the  increase  of  the  crown  lands  by  the  an- 
nexation of  the  estates  of  the  bishops.  The  queen's  intense 
devotion  to  the  old  church  even  led  to  the  surrender  of  certain 
resources  already  in  hand.  But  the  sale  of  lands  practically 
ceased,  and  for  the  sources  of  supply  which  remained,  conserva- 
tion and  intensive  cultivation  to  effect  the  utmost  productivity 
were  the  keynotes. 

Mary  enjoyed  initial  advantages  which  her  brother  did 
not  have  when  he  began  to  rule.  The  kingdom  was  at  peace, 
and  not  threatened  with  war.  Boulogne  with  its  great  charges 
had  fortunately  been  lost.  The  crown  was  not  surrounded  by 
a  group  of  grasping  councillors,  bent  on  enriching  themselves 
at  the  expense  of  the  state.  "It  must  also  be  considered,"  runs 
a  memorandum  of  things  to  be>  done  for  the  good  of  the  realm, 
drawn  up  August  4  ,1553,  "that  the  expenses  of  the  queen  be  so 
moderated  as  the  crown  be  able  to  bear  it  and  have  wherewith 

202 


499]  RECONSTRUCTION  UNDER  MARY,   1553-1558  203 

also  to  resist  the  enemy.  And  for  this  cause  all  such  superfluous 
new  charges  as  have  of  late  crept  in  are  to  be  taken  away  and 
the  size  of  the  household,  the  admiralty,  ordinance,  mint,  Ire- 
land, Calais,  Berwick  and  other  places  reduced  near  the  same 
charges  that  they  were  in  the  latter  end  of  King  Henry  VIII. ' ' 1 
The  reduction  of  the  extraordinary  numbers  in  the  armies  and 
garrisons  in  Ireland,  Calais  and  Berwick  and  the  various  forts 
in  England  was  recommended  and  carried  out.  Shortly  after, 
a  special  committee  of  the  council  was  appointed  to  take  general 
oversight  of  the  advances  for  Calais,  Berwick  and  Ireland,  the 
North,  Portsmouth,  the  Isle  of  Wight  and  "the  Islands."2  In 
Ireland  alone  the  yearly  charge  which  had  been  £42,000  in  the 
last  year  of  Edward  VI 's  reign  was  reduced  to  £17,796  in  the 
third  year  of  Queen  Mary.3  It  was  recommended  too,  that 
the  charges  in  the  household  be  reduced,  after  a  study  of  the 
charges  of  the  latter  part  of  Henry  VIII 's  reign,  with  "reason- 
able additions  thereto. ' '  But  a  great  reduction  in  the  household 
charges  was  not  effected.  During  the  two  first  years  of  the 
reign  they  were  greater  than  they  had  been  in  Edward's  time, 
though  after  that  they  were  considerably  reduced.4  The  expenses 
of  the  wardrobe  continued  very  large,  but  were  declared  by  a 
committee  of  the  council  to  be  satisfactory  and  not  excessive.5 

1  State  Papers,  Domestic,  Mary,  I,  5. 

2  State  Papers,  Domestic,  Mary,  I,  3  ;  III,  31. 

3  Add.  Mss.,  4,767,  f.  160.     Yearly  charge  anno  1  Mary  £37,916;  anno 
2  Mary  £38,542;   anno  3  Mary  £17,769.     The  charges  rose  slightly  later 
to  £20,375  for  the  army  and  £1,735  for  fees  and  annuities  in  1559.     Ibid., 
ff.  116,  126,  129. 

*  Declared  Accounts,  Pipe  Office,  1795.    The  charges  for  the  year 
1551-1552  were  £55,791   (-Edward) 
1552-1553  £51,903   (Edward  and  Mary) 

1553-1554  £62,640  (Mary) 

1554-1555  £59,353  (Mary) 

1555-1556  £52,866   (Mary) 

1556-1557  £54,111   (Mary) 

1557-1558  £36,208  (Mary) 

1558-1559  £44,824  (Mary  and  Elizabeth) 

5  State  Papers,  Domestic,  Mary,  VI,  21. 
The  expenses  of  the  wardrobe  for  1552-1553  were  £  5,373 

1553-1554  12,307     (coronation 

included) 
1554-1555  6,121 


204  ENGLISH   GOVERNMENT   FINANCE  [500 

As  a  retrenchment  measure  the  union  of  the  various  revenue 
courts  had  been  considered  in  Edward  VI 's  reign,  and  author- 
ized by  parliament.6  Mary's  government  at  once  turned  its 
attention  to  the  "new  erected  courts"  and  their  "superfluous 
charges."  Parliament  passed  a  second  empowering  act,  and  on 
January  24,  1554,  letters  patent  of  the  queen  abolished  the 
Court  of  Augmentations  and  the  Court  of  the  First  Fruits  and 
Tenths,  and  united  them  with  the  Exchequer.  The  measure 
might  have  been  very  reactionary  in  its  effects,  inasmuch  as  it 
aimed  to  restore  completely  the  ancient  course  of  the  Exchequer, 
even  to  the  use  of  the  sheriffs  as  stewards  of  the  crown  lands. 
But  there  were  permissive  clauses  in  the  letters  patent  which 
made  it  possible  for  the  more  modern  system  of  the  Augmenta- 
tions Court  to  be  continued  for  the  administration  of  the  crown 
lands  in  the  Augmentations  office  of  the  Exchequer. 

Another  great  economy  was  achieved  in  the  matter  of  annu- 
ities and  pensions.  They  were  taken  under  consideration  at  the 
very  beginning  of  the  reign;  it  was  found  that  annuities  of 
£1,597  to  Englishmen,  and  of  £2,590  to  strangers  were  granted 
during  pleasure  and  might  be  stopped  at  once,  while  of  the 
annuities  paid  from  the  monastic  lands  it  was  suspected  that 
some  had  been  fraudulently  granted.7  The  council  advised 
in  January,  1554,  that  no  new  grants  of  annuities  or  pensions 
be  made;  and  although  some  new  grants  were  made,  notably  to 
those  who  had  helped  the  queen  at  Fremlingham  and  to  the 
officers  of  the  dissolved  Courts  of  Augmentations  and  First 
Fruits  and  Tenths,  the  total  payments  for  pensions  and  annuities 

1555-1556  6,029 

1556-1557  missing 

1557-1558  6,220 

1558-1559  9,220     (coronation 

included) 

These  items  are  taken  from  Declared  Accounts,  Pipe  Office,  1795,  3027 
to  3032. 

The  household  and  wardrobe  took  all  the  clear  revenues  of  the  Duchies 
of  Lancaster  and  Cornwall,  and  the  Court  of  Wards  and  Liveries  in  Mary's 
reign.  What  was  still  lacking  to  meet  their  charges  was  paid  from  the 
Exchequer. 

e  Statutes,  7,  Edward  VI,  c.  2.     The  General  Surveyors  and  Augmenta- 
tions had  already  been  united,  January  1,  1547. 
7  State  Papers,  Domestic,  Mary,  I,  22. 


501]  EECONSTBUCTION  UNDER  MARY,   1553-1558  205 

decreased  markedly.  From  Easter,  1557,  to  Easter,  1558,  they 
were  only  £5,978  as  compared  with  £20,000  a  year  in  Edward's 
day.8 

Yet  the  problem  which  confronted  Mary's  government  could 
not  be  solved  by  economies  and  curtailments  alone.  The  rise 
in  prices,  the  advance  in  the  standard  of  living,  and  the  higher 
level  of  salaries  led  necessarily  to  an  increase  in  the  household 
and  wardrobe  charges  and  in  the  cost  of  the  permanent  military 
and  naval  establishments.  With  all  the  economies  possible,  the 
total  government  disbursements  in  normal  years  of  peace  were 
considerably  greater  than  they  had  been  in  1540,  and  constantly 
tended  to  rise.  It  was  essential  that  the  government's  revenues 
be  increased.  The  time  was  not  yet  ripe  to  use  taxation  regularly 
to  supply  the  new  funds.  Nor  could  the  depleted  estates  of  the 
crown  be  augmented  on  a  grand  scale  as  in  the  past.  North- 
umberland's attainder  and  execution  restored  some  of  the  lands 
which  he  had  so  unjustly  gathered  into  his  hands.  As  a  pos- 
sible means  of  recovering  more  of  the  fraudulently  alienated 
estates,  an  investigation  was  proposed  of  all  exchanges  or  gifts 
of  land  granted  since  the  death  of  Henry  VIII,9  but  nothing  was 
done.  Yet  despite  all  the  alienations  of  the  past  two  decades, 
the  crown  estates  were  still  absolutely  very  large,  and  if  they 
could  not  be  increased  in  extent,  they  could  be  made  much  more 
productive  of  revenue.  That  rise  in  prices  which  so  increased 
the  costs  of  running  the  state,  increased  also  the  potential  value 
of  the  royal  lands.  Rents  responded  to  the  advance  in  prices 
of  agricultural  products,  though  the  crown  did  not  immediately, 
or  automatically  profit  by  the  rise  in  rents.  In  1555  the  commit- 
tee of  the  council  appointed  for  lands  and  possessions  thought 
it  good  that  a  survey  be  made  of  all  the  queen's  possessions  in 
every  shire  and  hundred  as  the  first  step  toward  increasing 
her  majesty's  income;  but  on  the  next  points  the  sub-committees 
entirely  disagreed.  One  party  favored  the  letting  of  all  lands, 
possessions  and  manors  to  farm  for  twenty-one  years,  as  in  that 
way  the  revenue  would  be  made  more  certain,  and  the  expenses 
of  stewards,  bailiffs,  auditors,  surveyors  and  receivers  much 

s  Exchequer  of  Eeceipt,  Misc.  Books,  259,  Issues  of  the  Exchequer. 
9  State  Papers,  Domestic,  Mary,  I,  5. 


206  ENGLISH   GOVERNMENT   FINANCE  [502 

reduced.10  "Farming"  the  revenues  was  beginning  to  find  the 
favor  of  experts;  it  was  concurrently  urged  for  the  customs, 
where  the  "example  of  other  kingdoms  and  dominions"  showed 
how  advantageous  it  was.  The  farming  of  the  lands  and  manors 
was  not,  however,  adopted.  More  careful  attention  was  paid 
to  the  making  of  new  leases,  which  were  to  be  drawn  up  only  by 
the  officers  of  the  courts;  fines  for  entry  seem  to  have  been  in- 
creased, and  rents  raised.  The  land  revenues  steadily  increased 
throughout  Mary's  reign,  and  this  increase  continued  without 
interruption  in  Elizabeth's  time.  The  clear  yield  of  the  crown 
lands  in  the  Court  of  Augmentations  was  £26,883  in  the  year 
1552-1553,  the  last  year  of  Edward  VI  and  the  first  of  Mary;  in 
the  year  1556-1557  the  yield  of  the  lands  in  the  Augmentations 
office  of  the  Exchequer  was  £47,723,  and  in  the  first  year  of  Eliza- 
beth £69,628.1:l  In  the  Duchy  of  Lancaster  the  issues  of  crown 
lands  show  a  similar,  but  smaller  increase  from  £6,628  in  the  year 
1552-1553,  to  £7,808  in  the  year  1558-1559.12  The  land  revenues 
thus  incremented  again  became  the  most  important  in  the  state. 
But  though  land  was  the  chief  source  of  wealth  in  early 
Tudor  times,  investments  were  also  taking  other  forms.  Com- 
mercial wealth,  especially  the  riches  derived  from  foreign  com- 
merce had  for  a  long  time  been  rising  to  a  more  exalted  place 
in  the  national  economy.  The  healthy  growth  of  trade,  stimu- 
lated by  Henry  VII 's  fostering  care  had  continued  in  his  son's 
reign.  In  the  latter  years  of  Henry  VIII  however,  the  returns 
from  the  customs  fluctuated,  and  in  the  time  of  Edward  VI 
they  declined.13  The  prosperity  of  the  trading  classes  was  shown 
by  their  ability  to  purchase  land  in  great  quanities  when  the 
monastic  and  chantry  properties  were  offered  for  sale.  The 
prestige  of  English  merchants  abroad  was  so  great  that  the 

ioState  Papers,  Domestic,  Mary,  VI,  22;  Add.  Mss.,  12,504,  ff.  164,  166; 
Cotton,  Mss.;  Titus,  B.  IV.  f.  135. 

11  Augmentations  Office  Treasurer's  Boll  of  Accounts,  no.  8;  Exchequer 
of  Receipt,  Declaration  Books,  Pells,  I;  Lands.  Mss.,  4,  f.  182. 

12  Duchy  of  Lancaster,  Assocunts  Various,  bundle  VIII. 

is  The  average  receipts  1538-1539  to  1546-1547  were  £40,120  (Schanz, 
E-nglische  Handelspolitik,  II,  12).  The  receipts  in  the  year  1550-1551  were 
£23,386  in  the  ports  of  England,  and  £2,511  at  Calais.  The  Calais  customs 
were  however,  unusually  small  this  year.  In  1548-1549  they  had  been 
£6,752,  and  in  1549-1550  £4164  (Add.  Mss.,  30,198). 


503]  RECONSTRUCTION  UNDER  MARY,   1553-1558  207 

credit  of  London  merchants  would  secure  loans  in  Flanders  for 
which  the  credit  of  the  king  was  not  sufficient;  their  resources 
were  again  indicated  by  the  ability  of  the  Merchant  Adventurers 
and  the  Merchants  of  the  Staple  to  advance  great  sums  to  the 
king  by  way  of  loans.  By  the  time  of  Edward  VI  the  influence 
of  the  London  merchants  had  become  so  great  as  to  secure  the 
revocation  of  the  privileges  of  the  Steelyard,  and  their  confidence 
and  initiative  sufficient  to  lead  them  to  undertake  the  beginning 
of  the  Muscovy  Company  in  the  voyage  of  Willoughby  and 
Chancellor  in  1553.  These  are  all  indications  of  a  vigorous  and 
increasing  foreign  trade  in  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth  century. 
The  decline  in  Edward's  customs  revenues  meant  not  a  decline 
in  English  trade,  but  a  maladjustment  of  the  revenue  system. 
For  this  there  were  several  causes.  There  was  laxness  and  dis- 
honesty in  the  custom  houses  and  dues  were  not  truly  paid.14 
More  important  than  this,  all  dues  were  collected  on  the  valu- 
ations of  the  national  books  of  rates  of  1536  and  1545,  which 
were  themselves  the  valuations  fixed  in  the  London  book  of 
1507.  With  the  rise  in  prices,  these  valuations  no  longer  cor- 
responded to  the  actual  market  prices  of  goods  in  the  middle  of 
the  century.  In  the  third  place,  articles  like  wool,  on  which  the 
customs  revenues  were  formerly  very  great  were  exported  in 
smaller  quantities,  while  the  existing  duties  on  commodities 
like  cloth,  beer  and  wine,  in  the  increased  exchange  of  which  the 
growth  of  commerce  consisted,  were  too  low.  As  far  as  the 
official  valuations  were  concerned  the  situation  was  clearly  rec- 
ognized by  a  royal  commission  in  Edward  VI  's  reign.  Pointing 
out  the  discrepancy  between  the  market  price  and  the  rated 
value,  the  commission  declared  it  meet  to  take  measures  for 
the  profit  of  this  custom,  and  that  additional  returns  from  new 
valuations  were  necessary.  A  committee  of  the  council  studied 
the  matter  in  Mary 's  reign,  and  reported :  ' '  It  seems  necessary 
that  goods  of  all  sorts  are  imported  and  exported  and  shall 

14  State  Papers,  Domestic,  Mary,  XIII,  49,  50,  charges  of  loss  to  the 
queen  through  fraudulent  weighing  of  wools;  Historical  Mss.  Commission 
Reports,  Hatfield  Mss.,  I,  148,  complaint  of  great  funds  in  the  custom 
house  on  the  part  of  the  customers  and  controllers,  who  are  often  in  busi- 
ness for  themselves.  Of.  Dowell,  History  of  Taxes,  I,  180;  Cunningham, 
Growth  of  English  Industry  and  Commerce,  I,  549. 


208  ENGLISH   GOVERNMENT   FINANCE  [504 

» 

be  specified  in  a  book  with  their  true  modern  value,  and  that 
customs  and  subsidies  (of  tonnage  and  poundage)  shall  be  paid 
according  to  the  true  value  and  quality  of  the  same  goods  at 
these  times."15  On  May  28,  1558,  the  new  Book  of  Rates 
with  modern  valuations,  based  on  recent  inquiry  was  issued. 
It  raised  the  older  rates  by  approximately  seventy-five  per  cent, 
on  the  average.  The  privy  seal  prefixed  to  this  book  of  rates 
remedied  the  decrease  in  the  customs  caused  by  the  falling  off 
in  the  export  of  wool.  Because  "much  less  wool  is  shipped 
.  .  .  and  much  more  wool  is  made  into  cloth  within  our 
realm  and  carried  out  of  the  same  in  cloth  by  way  of  merchan- 
dise .  .  and  because  the  custom  and  subsidy  of  wool  carried 
out  of  this  realm  in  wool  doth  far  exceed  the  custom  and  sub- 
sidy of  so  much  wool  after  the  rate  clothed  .  .  we  there- 
fore minding  in  reasonable  sort  to  maintain  our  customs  as  the 
most  ancient  and  certain  revenue  of  our  crown  .  .  have 
assessed  upon  cloths  to  be  carried  forth  by  way  of  merchandise 
(new)  rates  for  the  customs  and  subsidy."16  By  this  new 
duty  upon  cloth,  called  the  Impost  which  replaced  the  former^ 
dues  upon  cloth,  the  cloth  trade  was  made  to  contribute  a  fairer 
share  to  the  necessities  of  the  state.  A  few  weeks  before  the 
issue  of  the  new  book  of  rates  and  the  impost  upon  cloth  the 
council  had  laid  similar  imposts  upon  the  wines  of  France,  and  - 
French  dry  wares  imported,  and  upon  beer  exported.17  The 
increase  brought  by  the  new  valuations,  the  new  duties  and  the 
greater  strictness  in  the  custom  houses  which  the  council  en- 
joined, was  immediate.  From  £25,900  in  1550-1551  and  £29,315 
in  the  fourth  year  of  Mary's  reign,  the  customs  revenues  rose 
to  £82,797  in  the  first  year  of  Queen  Elizabeth,  divided  as  fol- 
lows,—  old  customs,  £25,797;  for  the  rate  of  wares  newly  ap- 
pointed, £20,000;  custom  of  the  Staple,  £4,000;  new  increase 
upon  cloth,  £26,000 ;  new  increase  upon  wines,  £4,000 ;  the  custom 
of  beer,  £3,000.18  The  new  book  of  rates  and  the  new  duties 
or  imposts  were  the  second  great  contribution  of  Mary  to  a 

is  Add.  Mas.,  30,  198 ;  Gras,  Tudor  Books  of  Bates,  774 ;  State  Papers, 
Domestic,  Mary,  VI,  22;  Cotton,  Mss.;  Titus  B.,  IV,  f.  35. 

ie  Lansd.  Mss.,  3,  f.  143. 

"  Acts  of  the  Privy  Council,  n.  a.,  VI.  305,  April  17,  1558. 

is  Lansd.  Mss.,  4,  f.  182;  an  estimate  or  report  on  the  revenues  for  the 
year  1559-1560  prepared  for  Cecil,  and  annotated  in  his  hand. 


505]  RECONSTRUCTION  UNDER  MARY,   1553-1558  209 

rehabilitation  of  the  finances  of  the  kingdom.  As  in  the  case 
of  the  lands,  Elizabeth  reaped  the  advantages  of  Mary's  inno- 
vations. Elizabeth's  councillors  extended  the  new  imposts  to 
all  wines,  and  reissued  the  Book  of  Bates  at  various  times.  The 
customs  became  of  almost  equal  importance  with  the  land 
revenues  as  the  basis  for  national  finance,  just  as  commercial 
wealth  was  tending  to  greater  equality  with  landed  wealth. 

But  it  must  not  be  supposed  that  all  was  smooth  sailing  in 
the  financial  history  of  Mary's  reign.  The  constructive  policies 
were  slow  in  their  development.  Throughout  the  reign  the 
government  needed  money,  for  the  support  of  the  increased 
establishments,  and  in  the  last  year  for  the  war  with  Prance, 
which  fortunately  was  quick  and  decisive.  But  crown  lands 
were  not  sold,  and  the  coinage  of  debased  money  was  not  resumed. 
The  government  depended  chiefly  upon  loans  and  taxes  to  meet 
its  exigent  demands.  The  debts  beyond  seas  had  been  decreased 
in  the  last  months  of  Northumberland's  administration,  to 
£61,000  by  midsummer  1553.  This  reduction  had  been  effected 
by  allowing  the  payments  in  the  various  government  departments 
to  fall  very  much  further  into  arrears.19  Northumberland  had 
been  anxious  to  repay  the  Flanders  loans,  the  debts  of  the 
realm  abroad,  possibly  to  strengthen  his  international  position; 
Mary's  council  seems  to  have  decided  that  it  was  better  to  pay 
the  charges  and  expenditures  of  the  state  promptly,  and  to  accept 
frankly,  as  necessary  aids  in  doing  this,  further  foreign  loans, 
even  at  twelve  and  fourteen  per  cent,  which  the  future  could 
redeem.  As  in  the  latter  part  of  Edward  VI 's  reign,  Sir 
Thomas  Gresham  was  the  general  agent  in  Flanders  for  the 
loans.  Between  March  21,  1554,  and  July  31,  1557,  he  repaid 
forty-nine  bonds,  with  the  interest  and  brokerage  charges  of 
foreign  bankers,  together  with  certain  sums  due  to  the  Staplers 
and  Merchant  Adventurers  to  the  amount  of  £312,984  5s.  9d. 
He  negotiated  new  loans,  many  of  them  prolongations  of  former 
loans  to  the  value  of  £234,733  4s.  4d.  The  total  interest  and 
prolongation  charges  for  the  period  were  £31,224,  which  is 
possibly  only  a  small  part  of  the  saving  realized  by  the  state 
by  the  prompt  payment  of  its  officers,  servants,  purveyors  and 

i»  State  Papers,  Domestic,   Mary,   I,   14.     The  foreign  debt  is  put  at 
£72,000  at  about  the  same  time  in  another  paper,  ibid.,  IV,  6. 


210  ENGLISH   GOVERNMENT  FINANCE  [506 

other  like  creditors.  For  certain  money,  300,750  ducats,  raised 
by  bills  in  Antwerp,  he  had  to  go  to  Spain.  The  money  was 
delivered  to  him  by  the  bankers  of  Medina  de  Bioseca  and  Medina 
del  Campo  at  Seville;  from  Seville  he  had  to  carry  it  to  the 
seaside  packed  in  great  boxes,  some  of  which  broke  with  a  loss 
of  231  ducats,  —  which  the  commissioners  refused  to  allow  when 
his  account  was  made  before  them.  In  his  dealings  such  was 
"his  wisdom,"  as  his  declaration  of  account  modestly  phrases 
it,  that  he  raised  the  value  of  English  money  in  exchange  to  be 
of  more  value  than  the  money  of  Flanders,  two  shillings  in  the 
pound  in  March  and  April  1554,  one  shilling  in  May  1557,  and 
six  pence  in  August  1555.20 

Though  most  of  the  loans  were  raised  in  Flanders, ,  the  queen 
occasionally  called  upon  the  city  of  London  for  advances.  On 
the  first  Sunday  of  September,  1553,  she  demanded  £20,000  of 
the  city  of  London.  The  sum  of  £10,000  was  actually  advanced, 
and  repaid  within  the  month.  In  August,  1556,  the  city  of 
London  advanced  £6,000.  In  March,  1558,  after  the  loss  of 
Calais  the  queen  demanded  a  loan  of  100,000  marks  of  the  city, 
which  was  reduced  to  £20,150  12s.  Id.  when  it  was  paid.  The 
queen  pledged  lands  worth  £1,007  10s.  7*4d.  a  year  for  repay- 
ment, and  paid  interest  at  twelve  per  cent,  for  the  taking  of 
which,  contrary  to  the  usury  laws,  the  London  alderman  had 
to  receive  special  licenses  from  the  queen.  The  Merchant  Ad- 
venturers were  so  "forward"  and  liberal  at  this  time  that  the 
queen  wrote  them  a  special  letter  of  thanks,  promising  them 
her  special  favor  in  any  reasonable  suits.21 

The  taxes  of  parliamentary  grant  used  to  eke  out  the  crown 
resources  were  the  subsidies,  very  similar  to  those  of  the  latter 
period  of  Henry  VIII  's  reign,  and  the  fifteenths  and  tenths  of 
the  laity,  and  the  subsidies  of  the  clergy.  In  her  first  parliament 
the  queen  remitted  the  last  subsidy  granted  to  Edward  VI, 
unpaid  at  his  death.  In  1555  a  subsidy  payable  in  1556  and 
1557  was  granted  by  the  laity,  and  a  subsidy  of  six  shillings  in 
the  pound  by  the  clergy.  Parliament  was  willing  at  this  time 

20  Declared    Accounts,   Pipe    Office,    18.      The    accounts    of    Gresham's 
transactions  are  continued  in  23,  26. 

21  Wriothesley,  Chronicle,  II,  100;  Acts  of  the  Privy  Council,  n.  s.,  IV, 
343,  353;  V,  321;  State  Papers,  Domestic,  Mary,  XIV,  83;  XII,  66. 


507]  RECONSTRUCTION  UNDER  MARY,   1553-1558  211 

to  make  a  further  grant  of  two  fifteenths  and  tenths  which  the 
queen  was  graciously  contented  to  refuse  with  her  thanks.22 
In  January,  1558,  as  a  war  measure,  a  subsidy  of  one  fifteenth 
and  tenth  were  granted,  besides  a  clerical  subsidy  of  eight  shil- 
lings in  the  pound.  Of  interest  in  connection  with  the  subsidies 
of  Mary's  time  is  not  the  frequency  with  which  they  were  asked, 
nor  their  yield,  but  the  stiffening  resistance  of  parliament  to 
the  taxes,  and  the  insistence  of  the  government  on  more  exact 
and  complete  payment,  with  the  punishment  of  those  who  sought 
to  evade  the  taxes.23 

Near  the  end  of  the  reign  too,  the  century-old  device  of  the 
forced  loan,  half  arbitrary  tax,  and  half  loan,  was  revamped. 
In  1556  the  richest  subjects  of  the  kingdom  were  called  upon  to 
lend  the  queen  £100  apiece,  to  be  repaid  within  a  month  of 
All  Saints  Day,  (November  1),  1557.24  In  September,  1557,  to 
raise  money  to  repay  the  loan  of  the  past  year,  and  to  supply 
other  needed  sums,  a  more  elaborate  loan  was  " practiced." 
Commissioners  sat  in  every  district,  as  in  the  case  of  a  subsidy, 
and  rated  each  man's  value  with  the  assistance  of  the  subsidy 
books,  and  the  testimony  of  neighbors.  Having  made  the  assess- 
ments, the  commissioners  were  to  collect  the  money,  taking  not 
under  £10,  nor  more  than  100  marks  (£66  13s.  4d.).  Those  who 
firmly  refused  to  pay  without  cause  were  to  be  cited  before  the 
council,  as  indeed  many  persons  were.  Certain  counties,  Derby, 
Chester,  Lancashire,  York  and  Nottingham  were  exempted  from 
the  loan,  because  of  the  service  which  they  had  ' '  done  us  in  the 
war  amongst  our  enemies  the  Scots. ' '  The  loan  realized  £109,267 
Os.  4d.;  of  this  £42,100  was  used  to  repay  the  loan  of  1556, 
and  the  rest  was  apparently  used  for  th3  general  purposes  of 
the  state,  since  the  recovery  of  Calais  was  not  immediately  at- 
tempted. Though  privy  seals  were  given  as  receipts  to  those 
who  had  contributed,  no  promise  of  repayment  was  made  as 

22  Commons '  Journal,  I,  28,  31. 

23  The  Commons'  Journal  notes  "arguments"  on  the1  necessity  of  sum- 
moning members  of  the  house  before  the  queen  in  connection  with  each 
one  of  the  grants  of  the  reign.     For  insistence  upon  more  complete  and 
speedier  payment  of  taxes,  see  Acts  of  the  Privy  Council,  n.  B.,  V,  VI. 
The  yields  of  the  Marian  subsidies  are  listed  in  the  Appendix,  Subsidies. 

2*  Cotton,  Mss.;  Cleopatra  F.,  VI,  f.  299,  a  privy  seal  for  the  loan. 


212  ENGLISH   GOVERNMENT  FINANCE  [508 

in  the  previous  year,  and  no  repayment  seems  ever  to  have  been 
made.25 

Note  must  be  taken  finally  of  the  retrogressive  steps  in  the 
financial  history  of  Mary's  time.  These  are  closely  connected 
with  the  political,  and  especially  the  religious  situation;  they 
proceed  partly  from  the  queen's  sense  of  loyalty  and  gratitude 
to  the  church,  partly  from  her  sense  of  stern  honor  and  exact 
justice.  The  confiscations  and  forfeits  accruing  to  the  crown 
by  the  ruin  of  her  enemies,  Mary  balanced  by  restoration  to 
name  and  lands  of  persons  attainted  by  her  father  and  brother.26 
She  reerected  the  Hospital  of  St.  John  of  Jerusalem,  she  restored 
the  abbey  of  Westminster,  and  returned  the  monastic  lands  in 
Ireland  to  their  original  uses.  She  was  even  resolved  to  restore 
all  the  monastic  lands  in  crown  possession  to  the  church,  and 
actually  ordered  perfect  declarations  made  and  presented  to  this 
end.  "She  preferred  the  salvation  of  her  soul  to  the  mainten- 
ance of  her  imperial  dignity,  if  it  could  not  be  furnished  without 
such  assistance."  But  the  councillors  would  not  take  the  nec- 
essary steps;  their  passive  resistance  defeated  her  purpose.27 
She  was  however,  able  to  accomplish  the  surrender  of  the  first 
fruits  and  tenths  of  the  clergy,  and  the  alienations  of  the  rec- 
tories, parsonages,  glebes,  benefices  impropriate  and  other  spirti- 
ual  livings  in  the  hands  of  the  crown,  though  the  bill  for  this 
purpose  was  bitterly  opposed  in  parliament.28  The  surrender 
was  made  as  a  gift  to  the  church,  to  be  placed  at  the  disposition 
of  the  Cardinal  Pole,  for  the  augmentation  of  the  poor  livings 
of  the  priests.  The  surrender  of  the  first  fruits  and  tenths 
alone  would  have  been  a  dead  loss  to  the  royal  revenues  of 
something  less  than  £25,000  a  year.  But  the  alienation  was 
not  so  immediately  serious  as  Mary's  enemies  in  Elizabeth's 
reign  and  since  have  alleged.  For  the  gift  to  the  church  carried 
with  it  the  payment  of  pensions  and  corrodies  of  the  late  monks, 
nuns  and  chantry  priests  to  a  very  great  sum.  The  pensions  of 

MState  Papers,  Domestic,  Mary,  XI,  44,  45,  46;  XVI,  49;   XIII,  36. 
The  last  is  the  account  of  Richard  Wilbraham  receiver-general  of  the  loan. 

26  A  paper  in  State  Papers,  Domestic,  Elizabeth,  I,  64,  gives  the  value  of 
lands  restored  to  such  persons  as  £9,799  a  year. 

27  Dixon,  History  of  the  Church  of  England,  IV,  359. 

28  The  debates  and  arguments  are  noted  in  the  Commons'  and  Lords' 
Journals. 


509]  RECONSTRUCTION  UNDER  MARY,   1553-1558  213 

the  chantry  priests  alone  were  £11,147  a  year  ;29  the  entire  pay- 
ments of  this  nature  which  were  transferred  with  the  gift  were 
£44,861  in  the  year  1550-1551.80  In  time  these  pensions  and 
charges  would  cease,  and  then  there  would  be  at  the  disposal 
of  the  church  a  goodly  sum  for  the  benefit  of  its  most  poorly 
paid  priests,  but  it  was  eighteen  months  after  the  passage  of 
the  act  of  surrender  before  the  fund  sufficed  to  do  more  than 
pay  the  charges,  and  remit  the  tenths  of  the  smallest  livings. 
The  net  loss  to  the  crown  was  not  actually  very  great ;  before  the 
pensions  became  markedly  smaller  than  the  gross  value  of  the 
gift,  it  was  resumed.  The  greatest  and  practically  the  only  change 
which  Elizabeth  made  in  the  financial  policy  of  her  sister  and 
her  sister's  government  was  the  revocation  of  the  various  restor- 
ations which  Mary  had  made  to  the  church ;  especially  the  repeal 
of  the  Act  of  1555,  and  the  resumption  by  the  crown  of  the  first 
fruits  and  tenths,  and  the  spiritual  livings. 

Revenue,  to  paraphrase  Burke  a  little,  is  the  chief  problem 
of  the  state,  nay  more,  it  is  the  State.  This  is  certainly  valid 
for  fifteenth  and  sixteenth  century  England.  A  sufficient  rev- 
enue was  the  insistent  difficulty  of  Tudor  statesmen.  Their 
solution  was  circumstanced  by  two  conditions,  the  determination 
of  the  crown  after  the  humiliation  of  the  fifteenth  century  to 
be  independent,  and  the '  self  interest  of  the  middle  classes, 
in  whose  alliance  a  large  part  of  the  king's  power  consisted, 
which  made  them  reluctant  to  accept  taxation  as  a  method  of 
governmental  finance.  The  conquest  of  the  feudal  nobility  was 
Henry  VII 's  greatest  opportunity  to  increase  the  resources  of 
his  crown  by  stripping  them  of  their  wealth  and  estates,  thus 
providing  a  revenue  for  the  state  on  the  basis  of  landed  estates, 
independent  of  control,  and  satisfactory  to  the  middle  classes. 
Cromwell  furthered  his  work  by  the  seizure  of  a  large  part  of 
the  property  and  wealth  of  the  church.  At  a  time  when  their 
system  was  on  the  point  of  disintegration,  Mary  and  her  ad- 
visers were  strong  and  capable  enough  to  gather  together  the 
remaining  resources,  and  so  conserve,  husband,  and  increase  their 
productivity  by  raising  the  rents  of  the  crown  lands,  and  by 
issuing  a  new  book  of  rates  for  customs,  and  levying  new  im- 

2»  Historical  Mss.  Commission  Reports,  Hatfield  Mss.,  I,  75. 
30  Add.  Mss.,  30,198. 


214  ENGLISH   GOVERNMENT   FINANCE  [510 

posts,  that  with  the  careful  parsimony  of  Elizabeth,  reorganiza- 
tion was  put  off  until  the  seventeenth  century.  When  the  neces- 
sity for  a  new  financial  system  forced  itself  upon  the  Stuarts, 
they  were  too  weak,  and  too  incompetent  to  deal  with  it.  The 
example  of  Holland,  and  the  Long  Parliament  were  necessary 
before  it  could  be  set  up,  and  with  it,  the  promise  of  the  Con- 
firmatio  Cartarum  realized. 

All  must  acknowledge  the  titanic  achievements  of  the  early 
Tudors.  It  is  axiomatic  that  their  strong  governments  were 
needed  in  the  England  of  their  day  to  discipline  the  national 
life,  and  that  their  governments  were  strong  largely  because  of 
their  solid  financial  basis.  Great  recognition  is  due  to  the  mas- 
terly way  in  which  there  were  turned  to  the  service  of  the 
state  the  greater  economic  unification  of  England  and  the  chief 
forms  of  wealth  of  the  time.  It  may  even  be  granted  that  in 
some  of  their  work  the  Tudors  stood  for  real  progress,  espec- 
ially in  their  destruction  of  the  outworn  vested  control  of  the 
Exchequer  over  national  finance.  But  care  should  be  taken  not 
to  sanctify  their  success.  For  fundamentally  they  faced  away 
from  Liberty.  The  permanent  success  of  their  plans  for  securing 
income  for  the  crown  apart  from  the  will  of  the  people  would 
have  meant  the  end  of  freedom. 

Fortunately,  Henry  VIII  by  his  active  foreign  policy  defeated 
these  plans,  and  by  his  wastes  and  drains  for  war  unwittingly 
made  possible  the  revival  of  the  representative  control  in  Eng- 
land, after  his  father  and  himself  had  so  nearly  destroyed  it. 
The  miseries  and  wretched  sufferings  of  the  people  of  his  own 
day  may  be  the  Vicarious  Atonement  by  virtue  of  which  in  part, 
we  in  our  day  have  salvation. 


APPENDIX  AND  BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  NOTES 

TABLE  I 
TABLE  OP  COINS 

Angel  =  Noble  6s.     8cL 

Angelot  3s.     4d. 

Crown,  called  the  weighty  crown  or  the  crown  of 

40  sous  4s.    to    4s.     4d. 

Crown   of  the   Sun,   containing   38   sous  4s.     Id.    to    4s.     6d. 

Ducat  4s.     6d. 

Ecu  d'or  =  y2  Crown  2s.  to  2s.    3d. 

Florin  2s.     2d. 

Franc  20  sous  Tournois  2s. 

50,000    francs  =  26,315    crowns    of   the    sun  -j-  30 

sous  Tournois 

Gulden  of  gold  2s.     lOd. 

Livre  =  ^  crown  2s. 

Mark  =  %  £  sterling  13s.     4d. 

Nobel  %  £  steling  6s.     8d. 

£  Flemish.       The  value  varied  according  to  the  state  of  the  exchange. 

It  was  worth  about  15s.  sterling  near  the  end  of  Henry  VIII 's  reign. 
Scudo  4s.     2d. 


215 


216 


ENGLISH   GOVERNMENT  FINANCE 

TABLE  II 
TOTAL  EXPENDITURES  IN  THE  EXCHEQUER 


[512 


Year 

1506 

£43,259 

1508 

46,908 

1509 

39,766 

1510 

46,054 

1511 

57,937 

1512 

46,717 

1513 

36,964 

T515 

51,974 

1516 

50,745 

1517 

34,517 

1519 

52,306 

1520 

46,421 

1521 

45,387 

1523 

34,786 

1524 

32,467 

1525 

38,506 

1526 

34,174 

1527 

43,622 

"1529 

34,228 

1530 

31,974 

1531 

34,817 

1532 

38,935 

1533 

37,789 

Year 

1534 

£37,106 

1536 

37,234 

1537 

38,246 

JL538 

38,279 

1540 

20,200i 

T542 

30,402 

1543 

26,443 

1545 

116,5842 

1546 

178,083 

1547 

105,655 

1548 

78,980 

1549 

80,444 

1550 

61,810 

1551 

86,058 

1552 

66,541 

1553 

43,820 

1554 

90,3313 

1555 

151,100 

1556 

246,274 

1557 

293,152 

1558 

334,340 

1559 

230,975 

i  In  this  year  a  change  is  made  in  paying  the  assignments  made  to  the 
Household. 

2  Subsidies  are  again  expended  by  the  Exchelfcier  from  this  year  onward. 

3  In  this  year  the  Augmentations  Court,  ana  the  Court  of  First  Fruits 
and  Tenths  are  merged  with  the  Exchequer. 


513]  APPENDIX    AND    BIBLIOGRAPHICAL    NOTES 

TABLE  III 
RECEIPTS  OP  THE  COURT  OF  AUGMENTATIONS 


For  year  ending  at 
Michaelmas 


217 


a    v    _ 
o  •—  £> 


£  .a  "8  &  s          ££2 

From  April  1536  to 

to  Michaelmas  1538      £  27,732  £  29,847  £1,006  £  6,987 

1539  24,223  80,621  468  3,213 

1540  91,986 

1541  30,438 

1542  177,806  36,122  705  13,787 

1543  105,332 

1544  44,945  164,495  1,196  1,046 

1545  32,739  165,459  450  355 

1546  59,255  72,826  388  5,441 

1547  48,303  12,284  313  392 

1548  51,058  112,969  374  3,107 

1549  41,319  92,695  256  1,010 

1550  32,082  47,286  1,411  4,891 

1551  47,163  7,856  1,968  1,454 

1552  47,499  5,104  585  4,456 
From  Michaelmas  1552  16,624  £ 

to  January  24,  1554        26,883  28,445ij  156  49,113 

1  This  sum  had  been  received  in  past  years  by  the  treasurers  of  the 
court  for  lands  sold,  and  omitted,  perhaps  with  fraudulent  intent,  from 
their  accounts. 

In  addition  to  the  sums  listed  above  there  were  received  between  April 
1536  and  Michaelmas  1538  £5,948  in  fines  for  permission  for  certain  houses 
to  continue;  in  the  period  1539  to  1543  £6,55b  in  payment  of  the  subsidy 
levied | on  monks'  pensions,  and  £2,885  as  a  loan  on  the  pensions;  in  the 
year  ending  Michaelmas  1544,£5,776  in  fines  for  exemption  from  attending 
on  the  king,  £12,970  in  loans  from  ecclesiastical  persons,  and  £22,616 
from  the  sale  of  mortgages  to  the  citizens  of  London.  In  1545,  1546  and 
1547  £4,900  was  received  in  payment  of  debts  owing  to  the  various  houses 
before  their  dissolution.  In  1547  and  the  following  years,  there  were 
paid  into  court  considerable  sums,  representing  the  unexpended  balances 
in  the  hands  of  the  various  royal  agents  at  the  time  of  the  audit  of  their 
accounts. 

This  table  is  prepared  from  the  Treasurers'  Bolls  of  Accounts,  Augmen- 
tations Office,  nos.  1-10. 


218  ENGLISH   GOVERNMENT   FINANCE 

TABLE  IV 
ISSUES  OE  PAYMENTS  OF  THE  COURT  OF  AUGMENTATIONS 


[514 


Year 


April  1536- 

Michaelmas  1538 
Michaelmas  1538- 

Michaemas  1539 
Michaelmas  1539- 

April,  1541 
April  1541- 

April  1542 
April  1542- 

April    1543 
April  1543- 

April    1544 
April  1544- 

April  1545 
April  1545- 

April  1546 
April  1546- 

April  1547 
January  27,  1547- 

Michaelmas  1547 
Michaelmas  1547- 

Miehaelmast  1548 
Michaelmas  1548- 

Michaelmas  1549 
Michaelmas  1549- 

Michaelmas  1550 
Michaelmas  1550- 

Michaelmas  1551 
Michaelmas  1551- 

Miehaelmas  1552 
Michaelmas  1552- 

January  23,  1554 


ft 


3  &  n 


"*     t>^    »      -2      E  <» 

is  I?  «i  ^   l •  I ' 

s-.    £;    >->t4_| 
&    2    ®        O          "JP   g    O 


fli  CD 

•4J  "+* 

fl  g 

^  s 

SD  P,' 


o  bo 


«„      a     g      .S^E.SbB 


Jr      on  Cu  rr,  .2 

W       <n    v.     *••  •  *H 


a  «  vs  =r 

5  S  §  J   .-§  .S    __.  §  b        a 


bo  ®     s      a  °°  d 

I »   J       «  §  §  JS 
oo  o     fit      HI Ji93 


,|ge        M 

-53  S^       = 


a^! 


£3,524  £  448  £2,725  £  261  £5,702  £  14,618 

1,135  1,422  1,706   673  £1,172  2,840   17,082 

\ 

:  2,536  2,867  1,563  /   59, 


2,221 

892  3,438  892  2,297  £5,329 

1,129  3,765  1,567  1,535     7,804 

1,109  3,466  3,219  1,516. 

1,278  3,706  6,111  1,763 

1,120  4,081  16,810  1,926 

1,023  4,463     2,605 

*            *  * 

2,680  3,407  4,567  9,013 

2,641  3,536  3,737  8,420 

2,907  3,364  6,054  8,203 

2,626  2,939  3,388  5,536 

6,0401  5,400")  3,463  15,0971 
f  1,790 


161 
47,901 
64,624 
143,037 
207,527 
136,753 
117,982 
29,926 
165,155 
99,531 
81,821 
33,191 

54,052 
24,152 


515] 


APPENDIX    AND    BIBLIOGRAPHICAL    NOTES 


219 


TABLE  IV  (Contd) 

a 
*i 

Year 


April  1536-Michaelmas  1538  £20,581 

Michaelmas  1538-Michaelmas  1539        36,397 
Michaelmas   1539-April   1541  73,537 

April   1541-April   1542  13,465 

April  1542-April  1543  7,550 

April  1543-April  1544  

April    1544-April   1545  5,000 

April   1545-April   1546  7,666 

April  1546-April  1547  8,144 

January  27,  1547-Michaelmas  1547 
Michaelmas    1547-Michaelmas    1548 
Michaelmas  1548-Michaelmas  1549 
Michaelmas  1549-Michaelmas  1550 
Michaelmas  1550-Michaelmas  1551 
Michaelmas  1551 -Michaelmas  1552 

Michaelmas  1552-January  23,  1554 


gfc 

P<  o> 
g   « 

le 

Oo 


£3,489 
1,627 
3,932 
3,912 

6,0741 


I      I 


s 

9 

0 

H 

£  345 

£  48,247 

63,088 

141,888 

74,709 

87,997 

152,350 

225,401 

168,378 

5,590  2 

142,660 

184,475 
133,721 

6,748  s       112,579 
1,460  *         53,183 
18,388  O 

1130,935 
9,409  5 


1  Pension  paid  to  officers  of  the  general  surveyors  for  the  surrender  of 
their  offices  on  the  dissolution  of  that  court,  January  1,  1547. 

2  For  the  repayment  of  the  loans  for  ecclesiastics  and  others,  of  1544. 
s  Pension  to  ' '  those  wounded  at  Boulogne. ' ' 

4  Allowance  of  arrears  of  rents. 

s  Allowances  made  to  various  persons,  for  the  money  owing  by  them  on 
the  sale  of  lands  and  of  lead,  and  for  the  delivery  of  money  to  the  king's 
own  hands. 

*  Indicates  that  the  record  is  wanting. 

This  table  is  compiled  from  Augmentations  Office,  Treasurer's  Boll  of 
Accounts,  nos.  1-10. 


220 


ENGLISH   GOVERNMENT   FINANCE 
TABLE  V 


[516 


ANALYSIS  OF  THE  "PRESTS  UPON  WARRANTS"  OF  THE  AUGMENTATIONS 
COURT  FOR  EEIGNS  OF  EDWARD  VI  AND  MARY 

During  the  reign  of  Henry  VIII  these  payments  were  almost  exclusively 

for  war  purposes. 


1 
w 

13 
1 

1 

03 

1 

CM 

Q 

«M    >> 

*M  *M 

.5 

Year 

0    £j 
0>    £j 

a! 

11 

1 

1 

I. 

*»  m 

<H    v 

O    ~ 

"C 

ft 

11 

A   0 
0«H 

i 

T3 

15 

00  t> 

"be  "^ 

& 

I 

s 

§2 

•**  ^ 

-H  fi 

84  fi 

3     OQ 

o 

• 

3    fl 

ST  bo 

PMls 

H 

£ 

(SI 

Be 

M  ft 

.s  .« 

p3    ^ 

January  27,  1547 

to 

Michaelmas 

1547 

£1,500 

£1,000  £4,000 

to 

Michaelmas 

1548 

8,774 

10,000 

2,000 

£    58 

£648 

£300 

to 

Michaelmas 

1549 

4,955 

7,872 

4,000 

98 

648 

19,180 

to 

Michaelmas 

1550 

360 

648 

200 

to 

Michaelmas 

1551 

8,165 

891 

605 

1,422 

to 

Michaelmas 

1552 

1,070 

2,868 

1,734 

2,772 

1,422 

Michaelmas  1552-January 

23,  1554  500 

2,153 

33 

1,699 

TABLE  V    (Contd) 

i 


9  qp 

SJFS    a 

S  beg  S 

^?s  »«s 

Jfn  of 

-  ^  ftO 


S  <H 

is-s 

Sf-31 

« 


£2,000 


®     " 

gTJ  S 

111 


£3,693 


8,010 


•£ 

• 

*i 

<<  ». 

J* 

ft-™ 

O>    0 

CO 

M 

0 

S* 

3    ^ 
fil 

Treasurei 
Chamber 

jj 

Q.S 

00    00 

£3,303 

£3,000 

£510 

2,903 

3,950 

£100 

9,174 

914 

8,229 

666 

858 

3,070 

1,276 

800 

8,154 

5,261 

808 

9,087 

2,305 

1,552 

1,116 

740 

9,575 

1,046 

152 

614 

4,285 

Also  in  the  year  1552  £1,136  to  the  Master  of  the  Bevels. 


517] 


APPENDIX    AND    BIBLIOGRAPHICAL    NOTES 


221 


TABLE  VI 

THE  COURT  OF  FIRST  FRUITS  AND  TENTHS 

Receipts  and  Expenditures  of  the  Treasurer  of  First  Fruits  and  Tenths 
January  1,  1535  to  (jKstmas  1540.   (Landsdowne  Mss.,  156,  ff.  137  ff.) 


Receipts 


P 
First   Fruits 


1535 £  14,034 

1536 21,221 

1537 13,385 

1538 17,654 

1539 13,987 

1540 9,794 


Total    90,069 

Tenths                 1535 32,018 

1536 30,548 

1537 29,445 

1538 25,970 

1539 19,857 

1540 18,412 


Total    156,251 

Clerical  subsidies,  due  Christmas,  1540 

Canterbury  18,229 

York  6,462 

The  Bishop  of  Lincoln's  fine  for  escape  of 

prisoners  700 

Fines  assessed  by  Cromwell  1,594 

Vacations  of  bishoprics  2,394 

Received  from  Cromwell  and  others  by  the 
King's  express  command  for  foreign  em- 
ployment at  several  times  130,711 


Grand  total 


Expenditures 


406,183 


Fees  and  annuities  2,186 

Foreign  payments  to  ambassadors,  messen- 
gers, purchases  of  land,  redemption  of 
mortgages,  diets  of  prisoners  and  others  of 
the  king's  special  affairs  110,415 

Rewards  by  special  warrant  11,175 

Allowances  by  warrants   on  the   decrees   of 

the  Court  of  First  Fruits  14,597 


222 


ENGLISH   GOVERNMENT   FINANCE 


[518 


TABLE  VI  (Cont'd) 

Delivered  to  the  king's  coffers  59,139 

"Monies"  imprested  by  several  warrants 
from  the  king  for  transporting  soldiers,  for 
the  carriage  of  ordnance,  and  for  public 
services  175,591 


Total 


(sic)         374,069 


The  account  for  the  year  1542.    (Landsdowne  Mss.,  156,  f.  149). 


Eeceipts 


Arrears  32,034 

First  Fruits  12,298 

Tenths  18,822 

Clerical  Subsidy  17,573 

Miscellaneous  1,071 


Total 


81,800 


Expenditures 


Fees  of  the  officers  of  the  court  428 

Foreign  payments  to  the  officers  of  the  toils, 

for   embroidery   for   the   Great   Wardrobe       6,936 
Warrant  dormant  for  the  king's  attorney,  so- 
licitor, justices  of  assize,  and  justices  at 
Westminster  1,887 

Eewards  270 

Miscellaneous  850 

Imprests  or  advances  to  certain  persons  by 
special   warrant   for   special   services   and 
building  of  bulwarks  and  making  of  forti- 
fications 16,156 
Money  delivered  to  the  king's  coffers                   16,497 


Total 
Arrears 


43,027 
38,772 


The  arrears  represent  those  portions  of  the  revenues  which  have 
fallen  due,  but  have  not  been  collected  by  the  treasurer.  They  are 
carried  over  from  year  to  year,  and  greatly  inflate  the  accounts. 

The  account  for  the  year  1543.     (Landsdowne  Mss.,  165,  f.  150). 
Eeceipts 


Arrears 

Compositions  for  First  Fruits 

Tenths 


28,811 
9,660 
18,670 


519] 


APPENDIX    AND    BIBLIOGRAPHICAL    NOTES 


223 


TABLE  VI  (Cont'd) 

The  Clerical  Subsidy  18,444 

Subsidy  levied  on  pensions  of  monks  2,826 

Foreign  Receipts  39 


Total 
Expenditures 


78,451 


Fees  of  the  officers  of  the  court  428 

Foreign  payments  as  in  the  past  year,  with 
the  addition  of  the  name  of  Sir  Bichard 
Rich,  Treasurer  of  War  5,486 

Payments  by  warrants  dormant  as  in  the  past 
year,  with  £3,000  additional  to  the  house- 
hold and  other  additions  8,833 
Purchase  of  necessities  of  the  court  393 
Payments  by  special  warrant  of  the  king  to 
Wriothesley  and  Rich,  Treasurers  of  War, 
and  to  Richard  Hygham  for  transportation 
of  money  and  soldiers                                       36,393 


Total 
Arrears 


The  account  for  the  year  1544. 
Receipts 


(Landsdowne  Mss.,  156,  f.  147). 

Arrears  23,356 

Composition  of  First  Fruits  9,695 

Tenths  18,206 

Subsidy  of  the  clergy  17,807 

Subsidy  of  pensions  2,810 
Foreign  receipts 


100 


Total 
Expenditures 


Fees  of  the  officers  of  the  court 
Warrant  dormant,  as  in  previous  year 
Necessary  expenses  of  the  court 
Rewards  by  warrant  of  the  Council 
Money  delivered  for  provisions  for  the  king's 
army  at  Boulogne 


428 

8,863 

449 

694 

37,350 


Total 
Arrears 

During  this  year  Gostwick,  the  Treasurer  of  the  court  declared 
that  he  had  paid  out  £15,773  more  than  he  had  received,  and  that 
the  unpaid  arrears  were  £19,994. 


55,073 
23,346 


71,945 


67,703 
4,220 


224 


ENGLISH   GOVERNMENT   FINANCE 


[520 


TABLE  VI  (Cont'd) 
The  account  for  the  year  1548.     (Landsdowne  Mss.,  156,  f.  164). 

Receipts         Arrears  37,457 

Compositions  for  First  Fruits  5,209 

Tenths  14,203 


Total 
Expenditures 


56,869 


Fees  of  the  officers  of  the  court  428 

Paid  to  the  Judges,  and  to  Lady  Anne  of 

Cleves  2,542 

Paid  on  warrants  of  the  Council  1,479 

Necessary  expenses  of  the  court  396 

For  discharge  of  Issues  and  Arrearages  upon 

certificates  of  bishops  as  well  by  decrees  of 

this  court  as  otherwise  1,125 

Rewards  497 

Money  imprested  by  virtue  of  letters  from 

the  Council  -  14,970 


Total. 
Arrears 


21,438 
35,431 


The  account  from  Christmas  1553  to  December  31,  1557  (Accounts, 
Exchequer,  Q.  E.,  520/28). 

Receipts          Composition  of  First  Fruits  for  the  year  1554  28,368 

Same,  year  1555  5,793 

Same,  year  1556  1,120 

Same,  year  1557  1,243 

Clerical  subsidy,  anno  1  Mary  1,399 

Clerical  subsidy,  1  and  2  Philip  and  Mary  1,302 

Clerical  subsidy,  2  and  3  Philip  and  Mary  1,164 

Foreign  Receipts  36 


Total 
Expenditures 


67,336 


Exoneration  of  First  Fruits  both  by  writ  of 
the  King  and  Queen,  under  the  Privy  Seal, 
as  by  decision  of  the  Barons  of  the  Exche- 
quer 14,705 

Money  delivered  into  the   Exchequer  40,230 


Total 

Arrears  carried  over 


54,935 
12,401 


521] 


225 


SUBSIDIES  AND  FIFTEENTHS  AND  TENTHS 

Two  fifteenths  and  tenths  granted  1487,  to  be  paid  in  1488  and 

1489  £61,560 

The  subsidy  of  ten  thousand  archers,  granted  in  1489  27,000 

One  fifteenth  and  one  tenth  granted  in  1489  20,830 

Two  fifteenths  and  tenths  granted  in  1491  53,360 

Two  fifteenths  and  tenths  granted  in  1497  55,104 

The  subsidy  granted  in  1497  (record  of  first  half  only)  .  29,850 

The  aid  granted  in  1504  31,300 

The   first   fifteenth   and  tenth   granted   in   February,   1512  28,878 

The  second  fifteenths)  and  tenth  granted  in  February,  1512  27,769 

One  fifteenth  and  tenth  granted  November,  1512  29,408 

The  poll-tax  of  November  1512  32,814 

The  tax  of  £160,000  48,085 

The  tax  of  £110,000  45,637 

The  subsidy  of  November  1515  41,663 
The  subsidy  of  1523 

The  first  payment,  paid  February,  1524,  with  the  Anticipation, 

paid  November  1523  71,788 

The  second  payment,  February   1525  66,064 

The  third  payment,  February  1526  4,686 

The  fourth  payment,  February  1527  9,031 

The  subsidy  granted  in  1534 

The  first  payment  due  November  6,  1535  21,280 

The  second  payment  due  November  6,  1536  22,526 
Two  fifteenths  and  tenths  granted  in  1534 

The  first  fifteenth  and  tenth  due  November  6,  1537  33,270 
The  payment  of  the  second  fifteenth  and  tenth  of  this  grant  is 

not  enrolled  in  the  Subsidy  Bolls 
e  subsidy  granted  1540 

The  first  payment  due  February  4,  1541  46,413 

The  second  payment  due  February  4,  1542  48,047 
Four  fifteenths  granted  1540 

The  first  fifteenth  and  tenth  due  February  4,  1541  29,558 

The  second  fifteenth  and  tenth  due  February  4,  1542  29,507 

The  third  fifteenth  and  tenth  due  February  4,  1543  29,287 

T^he  fourth  fifteenth  and  tenth  due  February  4,  1544  29,125 
The  subsidy  granted  1543 

The  first  payment  due  February  6,  1544  75.080 

The  second  payment  due  February  6,  1545  56,052 

The  third  payment  due  February  6,  1546  52,139 
The  subsidy  granted  1545 

The  first  payment  due  April  1546  105,766 


226 


ENGLISH   GOVERNMENT   FINANCE 


[522 


TABLE  VII  (Cont'd) 

The  second  payment  due  April  1547  91,244 

Two  fifteenths  and  tenths  granted  1545 

The  first  fifteenth  and  tenth  due  June  30,  1546  29,539 

The  second  fifteenth  and  tenth  due  June  30,  1547  29,156 

The  relief  granted  to  Edward  VI  in  1548  **~~~ 

The  first  payment  due  May  1549  53,889 

The  second  payment  due  April  1550  47,449 

The  third  payment  due  April  1551  39,855 

The  fourth  payment  due  April  1552  43,261 

Two  fiffeenths  and  tenths  granted  to  Edward  VI  in  1553  and  paid 

in  Mary's  reign  58,000 

The  subsidy  granted  to  Edward  VI  in  1553  was  remitted  by  Queen 
Mary 

The  subsidy  granted  to  Mary  in  1555 

The  first  payment  due  March  1556  67,983 

The  second  payment  due  May  1557  76,795 

The  subsidy  granted  to  Mary  to  be  paid  in  June  1558  134,445 

The  fifteenth  and  tenth  granted  to  Mary  in  1558,  to  be  paid  in 

November  1558  29,000 
The  records  of  these  payments  are  found  in  L.  T.  B.  Enrolled  Accounts, 

Subsidies,  rolls  36  to  44. 


523]  APPENDIX    AND    BIBLIOGRAPHICAL    NOTES  227 

TABLE  VIII 

CLERICAL  SUBSIDIES 

The  disme  or  tenth  granted  by  the  clergy  of  Canterbury  in  1487       £  8,280 
Two  dismes  granted  by  the  clergy  of  Canterbury  in  1491  15,520 

Disme  granted  by  the  clergy  of  Canterbury  in  1495  8,550 

The  Subsidy  of  £40,000  granted  by  the  clergy  of  Canterbury  in  1497    30,630 
The  grant  of  £25,000  made  by  the  clergy  of  Canterbury  in  1489, 
and  the  grants  made  by  the  clergy  of  York  are  not  enrolled  in  the 
Subsidy  Rolls.    One  disme  of  the  province  of  York  granted  by  the 
clergy  of  York  to  the  Pope  in  1501  yielded  £1,420,  and  the  first 
half  of  the  disme  granted  there  in  1504  brought  in  £677  14s.  6d. 
(Accounts,  Exchequer,  Q.  B.,  413/2,  volume  III,  ff.  45,  56,  79, 
117).     The  value  of  the  disme  in  the  province  of  York  may  there- 
fore be  taken  as  £1,400  during  Henry  VII 's  reign. 
Four  dismes  granted  by  the  clergy  of  Canterbury  in  1512 

The  first  disme  11,021 

The  second  disme  11,889 

The  third  disme  11,590 

The  fourth  disme  11,326 

Two  dismes  granted  by  the  clergy  of  Canterbury  in  1515 

The  first  disme  10,951 

The  second  disme  9,613 

Three  dismes  granted  by  the  clergy  of  York  in  1512 

The  first  disme  1,228 

The  second  disme  1,490 

The  third  disme  1,482 

Two  dismes  granted  by  the  clergy  of  York  in  1516 

The  first  disme  1,493 

The  second  disme  1,435 

The  tax  of  1523  120,000 

The  fine  for  praemunire  in  1531  was  paid  to  Cromwell  who  later 
seems  to  have  turned  over  the  unexpended  portion  of  this  money 
to  the  new  Treasurer  of  First  Fruits  and  Tenths.  After  this  until 
Mary's  reign  all  clerical  subsidies  were  paid  to  the  Treasurer  of 
First  Fruits  and  Tenths,  and  are  found  recorded  in  his  accounts. 
After  1555  the  clerical  subsidies  are  again  separately  recorded. 
A  subsidy  of  six  shillings  in  the  pound  of  the  value  of  their 
benefices  granted  by  the  clergy  in  1555 

The  first  payment  due  in  October   1556  14,078 

The  second  payment  due  in  October  1557  13,145 

The  third  payment  due  in  October  1558   (estimated)  14,000 

A  subsidy  of  eight  shillings  in  the  pound  of  the  value  of  their 
benefices  granted  by  the  clergy  in  1558  to  Mary 


228  ENGLISH   GOVERNMENT   FINANCE  [524 

TABLE  VIII    (Cont'd) 

Estimated  yield,  in  four  payments,  due  in  March  1558,   1559, 

1560  and  1561  56,000 

The  accounts  from  which  these  figures  are  worked  out  are  Exchequer, 
L.  I.  It.  Enrolled  Accounts,  Sibsidy  Eolls,  37,  40;  Accounts,  Exchequer, 
Q.  E.,  57/4,  8 ;  Letters  and  Papers,  III,  2483 ;  Landsdowne  Mss.,  4,  ff .  8,  ff . 

BIBLIOGBAPHICAL  NOTES 
A.    FEINTED  MATERIAL 

I.    General  Works 

1.   General  Background 

CUNNINGHAM,  WILLIAM,  The  Growth  of  English  Industry  and  Com- 
merce (5th  edition,  Cambridge,  1910-1912).  3  volumes. 

DOWELL,  STEPHEN,  A  History  of  Taxation  and  Taxes  in  England 
from  the  times  to  the  present  day  (London  1884).  4  volumes. 

£.  Pre-Tudor  History. 

EAMSAY,  JAMES  HENRY,  Lancaster  and  York:  a  century  of  English 
History  (Oxford  1892).  2  volumes 

3.  Tudor  History,  1485-1558 

BACON,  FRANCIS,  The  History  of  the  Eeign  of  Henry  VII  (edited  by 

J.  R.  Lumby,  Cambridge,  1876). 
BTJSCH,    WILHELM,    England    unter    den    Tudors:    volume    I,    Kb'nig 

Heinrich  VII   (Stuttgart,  1892). 

CREIGHTON,  MANDELL,  Cardinal  Wolsey  (London,  1888). 
DEPUY,  ANT.,  Historic  de  la  Eeunion  de  La  Bretagne  a  la  France. 
FISHER,  HERBERT  A.  L.,  The  History  of  England  from  the  Accession 

of  Henry  VII  to  the  Death   of  Henry   VIII,  1485-1547    (London 

1906). 
FROUDE,  J.  A.,  History  of  England  from  the  Fall  of  Wolsey  to  the 

Death  of  Elizabeth  (New  York,  1875-1878).  12  volumes. 
GAIRDNER,  JAMES,  Henry  the  Seventh  (London,  1889). 
POLLARD,  A.  F.,  England  under  Protector  Somerset   (London  1900) 
POLLARD,  A.  F.,  The  History  of  England  from  the  Accession  of  Edward 

VI  to  the  death  of  Elisabeth  (London,  1910). 

4.  The  Coinage 

OMAN,  C.  W.  C.,  The  Tudors  and  the  Currency,  Transactions  of  the 
Eoyal  Historical  Society  new  series,  IX. 

5.  The  Customs 

^  GRAS,  N.  S.  B.,  Tudor  "Books  of  Eates,"  a  chapter  in  the  History 
of  the  English  Customs,  Quarterly  Journal  of  Economics,  XXVI, 
766-775. 

The  Origin  of  the  National  Customs  Revenue  of  England,  Quar- 
terly Journal  of  Economics,  XXVII,  107-149. 


525]  APPENDIX    AND    BIBLIOGRAPHICAL    NOTES  229 

SCHANZ,  GEORG,  Englische  Handelspolitik  gegen  Ende  des  Mittelalters 
mit  besonderer  Beriiclcsichtigung  des  Zeitalters  der  beiden  ersten 
Tudor s,  Heinrich  VII  und  Heinrich  VIII,  (Leipzig,  1881).  2 
volumes. 

6.   The  Monasteries  and  their  Dissolution 

DrxON,  EICHARD  W.,  History  of  the  Church  of  England  from  the  Abo- 
lition of  the  Boman  Jurisdiction  (London,  1878-1902).  6  volumes. 

GAIRDNER,'  JAMES,  Lollardy  and  the  Reformation  in  England:  a  his- 
torical Survey,  (London  1908-1913).  4  volumes. 

GASQUET,  FRANCIS  AIDAN,  Henry  VIII  and  the  English  Monasteries 
(London,  1906). 

JESSOP,  AUGUSTUS,  Comperta  of  Norfolk,  Norfolk  Antiquarian  Mis- 
cellany, II  434ff. 

SAVINE,  ALEXANDER,  English  Monasteries  on  the  Eve  of  the  Dissolu- 
tion (Oxford,  1909).  A  valuable  study  of  monastic  economy  in 
1535,  based  on  the  returns  of  the  assessment  of  the  value  of  all 
benefices  made  in  1535,  preserved  in  the  Valor  Ecclesiasticus. 

SPELMAN,  HENRY,  The  History  of  Fate  and  Sacrilege,  discovered  by 
Example  (London  edition  of  1853). 

7y  The  Navy 

OPPENHEIM,  H.,  A  History  of  the  Administration  of  the  Boyal  Navy 
and  Merchant  Shipping  in  relation  to  the  Navy,  1506-1660  (London, 
1897).  An  able  study  based  on  research  in  the  Public  Records 
Office. 

II.    Chronicles,  Contemporary  Biographies,  and  other  Contemporary 
Books 

1.    Chronicles 

Brief  London  Chronicle  during  the  Beigns  of  Henry  VII  and  Henry 
VIII,  edited  by  C.  Hopper.  Camden  Miscellany,  IV,  1859..  (Lon- 
don, 1859). 

Chronicle  of  Calais  in  the  Beigns  of  Henry  VII  and  Henry  VIII  to  the 
Tear  1540,  edited  by  J.  G.  Nicholas.  Camden  Society,  XXXV  (Lon- 
don, 1846). 

The  Chronicle  of  the  Grey  Friars  of  London,  edited  by  J.  G.  Nicholas, 
Camden  Society,  LIII  (London,  1852). 

Three  Fifteenth  Century  Chronicles  with  Historical  Memoranda  by  J. 
-^^  Stowe,  edited  by  James  Gairdner.  Camden  Society,  new  series 
-"XXVIII  (London,  1880). 

Two  London  Chronicles  in  the  Collection  of  Stowe,  edited  by  0.  L. 
Kingsford.  Camden  Miscellany,  3rd  series,  XVIII  (London,  1910). 

All  the  above  chronicles  are  very  brief  and  often  yield  only  a  single 
item  of  value  for  the  purpose  of  this  essay.  Of  greater  importance 
are: 

Chronicles  of  London,  edited  by  C.  L.  Kingsford  (Oxford,  1905). 
Eef erred  to  as  Kingsford 's  Chronicles. 


230  ENGLISH   GOVERNMENT   FINANCE  [526 

ARNOLD,  RICHARD,  The  Customs  of  London  (London,  1811). 
FABYAN,  EGBERT,  The  New  Chronicle  of  England  and  France,  edited 
by  Henry  Ellis  (London,  1811). 

GRAFTON,  RICHARD,  Chronicle  or  History  of  England  (London,  1809). 
2  volumes.  Grafton  appropriated  much  directly  from  Hall. 

HALL,  EDWARD,  Chronicle  containing  the  History  of  England  during  the 
JReign  of  Henry  IV  and  the  succeeding  Monarchs  to  the  end  of  the 
Eeign  of  Henry  VIII,  edited  by  Henry  Ellis  (London,  1809). 

The  chapters  dealing  with  the  reign  of  Henry  VIII  have  been  printed 
in  two  volumes  edited  by  Charles  Whibley  in  the  series  of  Lives  of 
the  Kings  (London,  1904).  The  references  for  the  reign  of  Henry 
VIII  are  in  the  1904  edition.  Hall  was  bent  on  glorifying  the 
Tudor  house,  and  this  tendency  of  his  must  be  kept  in  mind  in  using 
his  chronicle. 

STOWE,  JOHN,  A  Survey  of  London,  edited  by  C.  L.  Kingsford  (Oxford, 
1908).  2  volumes. 

The  Annales  or  General  Chronicle  of  England  (London,  1615). 

VERGILIUS,  POLYDORUS,  Anglicae  Historic  libri  viginti  sept  em  (Basel, 

1651). 

•  WRIOTHESLEY,  CHARLES,  A  Chronicle  of  England  during  the  reigns  of 
the  Tudors,  from  1485  to  1559,  edited  by  W.  B.  Hamilton.  Cam- 
den  Society,  new  series  XXI,  XXII  (London,  1875-1877). 

2,  Biographic* 

CAVENDISH,  GEORGE,  The  Life  of  Cardinal  Wolsey,  edited  by  W.  S. 

Singer  (London,  1825).    2  volumes. 
ROPER,  WILLIAM,  The  Mirror  of  Vertue  in  Worldly  Greatness,  or  the 

Life  of  Sir  Thomas  More  (London,  1902). 

3.  Contemporary  Boolcs 

•  COTTON,  ROBERT  BRUCE,  A  Discourse  of  Foreign  War  (London,  1690). 

DUDLEY,  EDMUND,  The  Tree  of  the  Commonwealth.  This  little  tract 
was  written  in  the  Tower,  1509-1510,  and  was  addressed  to  Henry 
VIII.  It  was  printed  by  the  Rosacrucian  Society  (Manchester, 
1859). 

r  FORTESCUE,  JOHN,  Worlcs,  collected  by  T.  F.  Lord  Clermont  (London, 
1869).  2  volumes.  Sir  John  Forteseue  was  chief  justice  of  the  king's 
bench  and  chancellor  to  Henry  VI.  His  works  are  important  exposi- 
tions of  the  economic  theories  of  his  day. 

LATIMER,  HUGH,  Bishop  of  Worcester,  Sermons  and  Kemains,  Parker 
Society  (London,  1884).  2  volumes. 

EDWAED  VI,  Literary  Eemains,  Roxburghe  Club,  (1857).  2  volumes. 
The  Journal  of  Edward  VI  which  the  young  king  kept  for  himself, 
has  been  separately  printed  in  the  Clarendon  Historical  Society 
Reprints,  1884. 

THOMAS,  WILLIAM,  The  Pilgrim,  A  Dialogue  on  the  Life  and  Actions 
of  King  Henry  VIII,  edited  by  James  A.  Froude  (London,  1861). 


527]  APPENDIX    AND    BIBLIOGRAPHICAL    NOTES  231 

Thomas  was  clerk  of  the  Council  of  Edward  VI.     The  book  is  a 
defence  of  Henry  VIII 's  religious  policy. 

VERGILIUS,  POLYDORUS,  A  relation,  or  rather  true  account  of  the  Island 
of  England,  translated  from  -the  Italian  with  the  original  text,  by 
Charlotte  Augusta  Sneyd.  Cam  den  Society,  XXXVII  (London, 
1847).  Vergil  was  especially  interested  in  the  finances  of  Henry 

VII,  and  he  wrote  a  full  account  of  the  revenues  and  expenses  of 
the  English  king  about  1500.     His  figures,  however,  are  not  very 
accurate  when  compared  with  the  actual  account  books  of  Henry  VII. 

III.     Printed  Documents  and  Calendars 

1.    Special  Collections  of  Documents 

ASTLE,  THOMAS,  The  Will  of  Henry  VII  (London,  1775). 

BROWN,  EAWDON,  Four  Years  at  the  Court  of  Henry  VIII  (London, 
1854).  This  book  was  made  up  of  the  dispatches  of  Sebastian 
Guistiniani,  Ventian  Ambassador  in  England  from  1515  to  1519, 
translated  from  the  originals  in  Venice  by  Mr.  Brown.  These  dis- 
patches are  invaluable  for  the  period  which  they  cover. 

CAMPBELL,  W.,  Materials  for  a  History  of  the  Reign  of  Henry  VII. 
Bolls  Series  (London,  1873-1877).  2  volumes.  Many  valuable  ex- 
tracts from  account  books,  the  patent  rolls,  and  other  records  of  the 
first  four  years  of  Henry  VII  's  reign. 

GAIRDNER,  JAMES,  Memorials  of  King  Henry  VII.  Bolls  Series  (Lon- 
don, 1858). 

Letters  and  Papers  illustrative  of  the  Eeigns  of  Richard  III  and 
Henry    VII.     Bolls    Series    (London,    1861-1863).      2    volumes. 

JESSOP,  AUGUSTUS,  Visitations  of  the  Diocese  of  Norwich.  Camden 
Society,  new  series,  XLIII  (London,  1888). 

MERRIMAN,  BOGER  B.,  Life  and  Letters  of  Thomas  Cromwell  (Oxford, 
1902).  2  volumes.  The  text  of  the  letters  is  preceded  by  a  bril- 
liantly written  essay  on  the  work  of  Cromwell,  which  has  been  of 
great  assistance  in  the  writing  of  this  study. 

BYMER,  THOMAS,  (and  Sanderson,  Bobert) ;  Foedera,  Conventions, 
Litterae  et  cuiusque  generis  Acta  PuWca  (London,  1704  to  1725). 
20  volumes. 

STAPELTON,  THOMAS,  Plumpton  Correspondence,  a  series  of  letters 
written  in  the  reigns  of  Edward  IV,  Bichard  III,  Henry  VII,  Henry 

VIII.  Camden  Society,  IV,   (1839).     These  letters  are  one  of  the 
few  sources  hitherto  used  to  throw  light  on  the  activity  of  Empson 
and  Dudley.  4  •*.«>»*- 

WRIGHT,  THOMAS,  Three  chapters  of  Letters  dealing  with  the  Suptfes- 
sion  of  the  Monasteries.  Camden  Society,  XXVI  (London,  1843). 
All  these  letters  are  calendared  in  Letters  and  Papers,  Foreign  and 
Domestic,  of  the  Beign  of  Henry  VIII,  but  the  complete  text  is 
here  given. 

£.    Records  of  Parliament,  Convocations  and  the  Privy  Council 


232  ENGLISH   GOVERNMENT   FINANCE  [528 

Eotuli  Parliamentorum,  6  volumes  and  index. 

The  Statutes  of  the  Eealm  (London,  1810-1819).    9  volumes  and  index. 

Journals  of  the  House  of  Lords,  beginning  anno  primo  Henrici  Octavi. 
Volume  I  covers  the  period  1509-1577.  These  records  are  of  little 
value. 

Commons  Journals,  beginning  with  the  reign  of  Edward  VI.  Of  little 
value. 

Concilia  Magnae  Srittanniae  et  Hiberniae,  edited  by  David  Wilkins 
(London,  1737).  4  volumes.  In  these  volumes  are  printed  the 
records  of  the  Convocations  of  the  English  clergy. 

Proceedings  of  the  Privy  Council  of  England,  1385-1542,  edited  by  Sir 
Harris  Nicholas.  7  volumes.  Volume  7  contains  the  proceedings 
for  the  years  1540-1542,  the  two  first  years  of  the  Tudor  period 
for  which  the  records  are  preserved  (London,  1834-1837). 

Acts  of  the  Privy  Council  of  England,  new  series,  edited  by  John 
Roche  Dasent  (London,  1890-1907).  32  volumes.  Volumes  I-VI 
cover  the  reigns  of  Edward  VI  and  Mary. 

3.    Calendars 

Beports  of  the  Historical  Manuscripts  Commission.  Scattered  items 
are  found  in  many  of  the  volumes  of  these  reports,  but  they  have 
yielded  less  than  might  have  been  expected  from  material  of  such 
bulk.  Detailed  references  to  the  volumes  used  are  made  in  the 
foot-notes. 

Calendar  of  Inquisitiones  Post  Mortem,  Henry  VII  (London,  1898- 
1915).  2  volumes. 

Calendar  of  Letters,  Dispatches  and  State  Papers  relating  to  the  Nego- 
tiations between  England  and  Spain,  edited  by  G.  A.  Bergenroth. 
Pascual  Gyangos,  M.  A.  S.  Hume,  and  R.  Tyler  (London,  1866-1914). 
10  volumes.  Referred  to  as  the  Spanish  Calendar. 

Calendar  of  State  Papers  and  Manuscripts  existing  in  the  Archives 
and  Collections  of  Milan  relating  to  England,  edited  by  Allen  B. 
Hinds  (London,  1912).  One  volume  only  has  appeared.  Referred 
to  as  the  Milanese  Calendar. 

Calendar  of  State  Papers  and  Manuscripts  relating  to  English  affairs 
existing  in  the  archives  and  collections  of  Venice  and  other  places  in 
Northern  Italy,  edited  by  Rawdon  Brown  (London,  1864-1890). 
7  volumes.  Referred  to  as  the  Venetian  Calendar. 

Calendar  of  the  Carew  Manuscripts  preserved  in  the  archiepiscopal 
library  at  Lambeth,  edited  by  J.  S.  Brewer  and  Wm.  Bullen  (London, 
1867).  Volume  I  covers  the  period  from  1515  to  1574.  Referred 

<to  as  the  Carew  Mss.  This  calendar  deals  chiefly  with  Irish  affairs. 
Calendar  of  State  Papers,  Domestic,  edited  by  J.  R.  Lemon  (London, 
1857).  Volume  I  covers  the  reigns  of  Edward  VI  and  Mary,  and 
the  early  part  of  the  reign  of  Elizabeth.  It  is  little  more  than  a 
finding  list,  and  the  original  documents  in  the  Record  Office  must 
be  used  in  all  cases. 


529]  APPENDIX    AND    BIBLIOGRAPHICAL    NOTES  233 

Calendar  of  State  Papers,  Ireland,  1509-1573,  edited  by  H.  C.  Hamilton 
(London,  1860).  Also  little  more  than  a  finding  list.  Eef erred  to 
as  the  Irish  Calendar. 

Calendar  of  the  Patent  Rolls,  Henry  VIIt  volumes  I,  II,  1485-1509  (Lon- 
don, 1914-1916), 

Letters  and  Papers,  Foreign  and  Domestic  of  the  reign  of  Henry  VIII, 
edited  by  J.  S.  Brewer,  James  Gairdner  and  E.  H.  Brodie  (London, 
1862-1907).  21  volumes.  Eeferred  to  as  the  Letters  and  Papers. 
This  is  probably  the  best  calendar  of  documents  covering  a  large 
period  ever  made.  Many  documents  however,  relating  to  the  reign 
of  Henry  VIII,  dealing  with  the  financial  matters  of  the  reign  have 
been  omitted,  either  because  of  their  size,  or  because  of  lack  of 
interest  in  financial  history,  or  because  they  had  not  yet  been  un- 
covered at  the  time  of  the  making  of  the  calendar.  For  the  general 
background,  and  for  many  details  of  the  foreign  and  domestic 
policy  the  Letters  and  Papers  have  been  a  perfect  mine,  as  the  foot- 
note references  show. 

I 

B.      MANUSCEIPT    MATEEIAL    IN    THE    BEITfeH    MUSEUM    AND 
PUBLIC  EECOED  OFFICE,  LONDON 

In  the  Eecord  Office,  and  in  the  great  collectioy  of  the  British  Museum, 
especially  the  Landsdowne,  Cottonian,  Harleian  Manuscripts  and 
the  additional  manuscripts,  many  separate  documents  are  found. 
These  are  too  numerous  to  list,  and  are  adequately  referred  to 
or  described  in  the  foot-note  references.  In  addition  to  these  sep- 
arate documents,  there  are  important  series  of  accounts  of  the 
various  revenue  courts  and  officials. 

I.  Exchequer  Accounts 

EXCHEQUER,  KING'S  EEMEMBRANCER,  MEMORANDA  EOLLS.  The  series 
is  complete  for  the  four  reigns.  These  rolls  contain  letters  directed 
to  the  Barons  of  the  Exchequer,  patents  of  grants,  enrollments  of 
suits  in  the  Exchequer  court,  and  brief  views  or  .synopses  of  the 
accounts  presented  at  the  Exchequer  for  audit.  Lists  of  the  names 
of  the  accountants  are  found  in  ' '  Eepertoires  of  States  and  Views, ' ' 
Eecord  Office  reference,  Indexes  7025,  7026. 
EXCHEQUER,  LORD  TREASURER'S  EEMEMBRANCER,  ENROLLED  ACCOUNTS. 

(a)  The  Pipe  Soils,   on  which   the   formal   accounts   of   the   sheriffs 
are  enrolled.     The  series  of  Pipe  Eolls  is  complete,  but  for  the 
Tudor  period  they  are  of  little  importance. 

(b)  The  Foreign  Bolls.     These  contain  the  accounts  of  all  Exchequer 
receipts  not  enrolled  in  other  rolls,  and  some  accounts  of  expendi- 
tures.    Eolls  119  and  120  cover  the  four  reigns. 

(c)  Customs  Eolls,  on  which  the  accounts  of  the  collectors  of  customs 
were  enrolled. 


234  ENGLISH   GOVERNMENT   FINANCE  [530 

(d)  Subsidy   Bolls,   on   which   the   accounts   of   the   collectors   of  the 
subsidies  and  fifteenths  and  tenths  were  enrolled.     Bolls  36  to  44 
cover  the  four  reigns. 

(e)  Wardrobe  Soils,  on  which  were  enrolled  the  accounts  of  the  expend- 
itures in  the  royal  household  and  wardrobe.     Boll  8  extends  over 

the    period    1485-1546,    and   Declared   Accounts,    Pipe    Office,    no. 
1795  which  should  really  be  Boll  9  extends  from  1546  to  1603. 

EXCHEQUER  OF  BECEIPT 

^a)  Declarations  of  the  State  of  the  Treasury.  These  are  the  declar- 
ations of  the  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer  to  the  King,  showing 
the  receipts  and  disbursements  of  money  in  the  Exchequer  of 
Beceipt.  They  extend  from  1505  to  1551  in  27  volumes.  Some 
of  the  declarations  are  misplaced,  and  others  have  found  their 
way  to  the  British  Museum.  These  are  Exchequer  K.  B.  Misc. 
Books  69;  Landsdowne  Mss.  156  f.  124  (copy);  Additional  Mss. 
33,376  and  Additional  Mss.  35183;.  There  are  also  several 
duplicates  in  the  British  Museum,  and  three  paper  drafts  in  the 
Becord  Office,  Exchequer  of  Beceipt  Misc.  392. 

(b)  Auditor's   Declarations    of   Issues.     When   the    disbursements   of 
Exchequer  became  more  diversified  after  1544,  the  clerk  of  the 
Chancellor,  the  auditor  of  the  Beceipt,  drew  up  a  paper  supple- 
mentary to  the  Declarations  of  the  State  of  the  Treasury,  showing 
the   disbursements   especially   upon   the   warrants   of   the   council, 
which  were  not  included  in  them.     A  volume  of  these  auditor's 
declarations   of   issues   is   prea-ved   for  the   years   1544  to    1560, 
Exchequer  of  Beceipt,  Misc.  359,  and  is  the  only  source  for  the 
most  important  Exchequer  disbursements  in  these  years. 

(c)  Declarations  of  the  Cleric  of  the  Pells.     In  Queen  Mary's  time 
the  declarations  of  the  Chancellor  were  replaced  by  smaller  dec- 
larations, made  by  the  Clerk  of  the  Pells.     These  show  receipts 
only.     One  volume,  for  the  years  1556,  1557,  and  Hillary  term, 
1558   is  preserved,   as  Exchequer  of  Beceipt,   Declaration  Books, 
Pells,  volume   I.     For  the  reigns  of  Edward  VI  and  Mary  the 
best  account  of  receipts  is  found  in  a  condensed  Jacobean  copy 
of  Exchequer  receipts,  from  1547  to  1555,  among  the  Landsdowne 
Mss.    Volume  156,  ff.  168  ff. 

(d)  Beceipt  Bolls.     These  rolls,  formerly  called  the  Pell  Bolls,  Aud- 
itor's Bolls  and  Treasurer's  Bolls  of  Accounts  form  a  triplicate 
series  of  all  the  Jeeipts  of  the  Exchequer  of  Beceipt.     They  were 
written   in   the   Court   of   Beceipt  by   the   Treasurer's   Clerk   for 
writing  the  Pell,  and  the  two  Clerks  of  the  two  Chamberlains  for 
writing  the   Controllment   of   the   Pell.     Although   rolls   for   prac- 
tically every  year  of  the  four  reigns  are  preserved,  they  are  very 
imperfect  for  the  early  part  of  the  reign  of  Henry  VIII,  where 
they  would  be  of  greatest  value. 


531]  APPENDIX    AND    BIBLIOGRAPHICAL    NOTES  235 

(e)  Tellers'  Bolls.     In   these   rolls   are  contained   records   of   all  the 
monies  received  by  the  tellers,  and  of  all  payments  made  by  them, 
except  payments  made  by  assignment  of  tallies. 

(f)  Miscellaneous  Books,  124,  125,  126,  131,  and  254  et  seq.  are  tel- 
ler's   paper    account    books,    in    which    their    first    records    were 
entered.    The  series  is  very  fragmentary. 

(g)  The!  History  of,  and  the  Practice  followed  in  the  Exchequer  of 
Eeceipt,  Misc.  Documents,  bundle  396.     In  this  bundle  are  many 
letters  relating  to   a   dispute  betwen  the  Clerk  for  Writing  the 
Tallies  and  the  Clerk  for  Writing  the  Pell  in  the  reign  of  Eliza- 
beth, and  from  which  the  practice  of  the  Exchequer  of  Receipt  can 
be  reconstructed,  and  certain  developments  traced. 

Fanshaw,x  Thomas;  The  Practice  of  the  Exchequer  Court,  London, 
1658.  This  very  rare  book,  a  copy  of  which  is  preserved  in  the 
British  Museum,  is  listed  here  for  convenience,  in  order  to  group 
it  with  other  tracts  which  exist  only  in  Manuscript.  Fanshaw  was 
King's  Eemembrancer  of  the  Exchequer  during  the  reign  of 
Elizabeth,  and  he  describes  the  practice  of  the  court  in  his  own 
time. 

Seventeenth  Century  treatises  on  the  practice  of  the  Exchequer  are 
found  Additional  Mss.  38008;  Edgerton  Mss.  2436;  Additional 
Mss.  36,107  and  Additional  Mss.  30,216. 

II.  The  Court  of  First  Fruits  and  Tenths 

Jacobean  copies  of  the  accounts  of  the  TREASURER  OF  THE  FIRST 
FRUITS  AND  TENTHS  from  1535  to  1544,  and  for  the  year  1548  are 
preserved  in  the  Landsdowne  Mss.,  volume  156,  ff.  137,  ff.  An  original 
account  book  from  Christmas  1544  to  April  1545  is  Court  of  First 
Fruits  and  Tenths,  Misc.  Books,  27.  In  1554  the  court  was  amal- 
gamated with  the  Exchequer,  and  Remembrancers  for  First  Fruits 
and  Tenths  conducted  the  former  business  of  the  court;  their  ac- 
count for  Mary 's  Reign  is  in  Exchequer,  Queen 's  Remembrancer, 
Accounts  520/28. 

III.  The  Court  of  General  Surveyors 

DECLARATIONS  OF  THE  ACCOUNTS  OF  THE  GENERAL  SURVEYORS.  These 
are  the  formal  statements  of  all  the  revenues  received  in  the  court, 
laid  before  the  King  or  his  Council.  They  are  preserved  for  only 
a  few  years  of  the  period,  Exchequer  of  Eeceipt,  Misc.  Books,  212, 
213,  253  for  annis  19-22  Henry  VII;  Bot.  Beg.  14  B  XI  in  the  Brit- 
ish Museum  for  the  year  1514-1515;  Additional  Mss.  32,469,  for  the 
year  1541-1542;  and  Rentals  and  Surveys  837,  a  special  declaration 
of  lands  alienated  and  otherwise  disposed  of  during  the  first  six 
years  of  Henry  VIII 's  reign. 
MINISTER'S  ACCOUNTS 

Augmentations  Office,  Misc.  Books,  volume  273  et  sequentia. 


236  ENGLISH   GOVERNMENT   FINANCE  [532 

Exchequer,  Treasury  of  Eeceipt,  Misc.  Books,  volume  150  et  sequentia. 

BUTLERAGE    ACCOUNTS 

Accounts,  Exchequer,  Q.  E.,  bundles  83  to  87. 

Declared  Accounts,  Pipe  Office,  454.  et  sequentia. 
THE  HANAPER  ACCOUNTS 

Accounts,  Exchequer,  Q.  E.,  bundles  217-219. 

Many  of  the  accounts  are  enrolled  in  the  Foreign  Rolls,  119,  120. 
PROCEDURE  OF  THE  COURT 

Accounts,  Exchequer,  Q.  E.,  517/10. 

Augmentations  Office,  Misc.  Books,  313A,  313B.  These  are  rough 
minute  books  of  the  court. 

IV.  The  Court  of  Wards  and  Liveries 

ACCOUNTS  OF  THE  KECEIVER  GENERAL  OF  WARDS  AND  LIVERIES 

Court  of  Wards,  Misc.  BooTcs,  volumes  361-367.     These  cover  various 

years  between  1533  and  1558. 

Exchequer  of  Eeceipt,  Misc.  BooTcs,  volumes  247,  248  are  the  accounts 
of  the  clerk  of  Ward's  lands  from  1503  to  1507,  when  these  lands 
were  still  under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  General  Surveyors. 

V.  The  Duchy  of  Lancaster 

ACCOUNTS  OF  THE  EECEIVER  GENERAL  OF  THE  DUCHY,  and  formal  decla- 
rations of  the  same  official  are  found  in  Duchy  of  Lancaster,  Ac- 
counts Various,  bundles  6  and  8.  For  the  latter  years  these  ac- 
counts are  very  complete. 

VI.  The  Treasurer  of  the  Chamber 

For  the  reign  of  Henry  VII  there  are  preserved  both  the  EECEIPT 
BOOKS  and  the  ISSUE  BOOKS  OF  THE  TREASURER  OF  THE  CHAMBER. 
The  receipt  books,  extending  from  1487  to  1505,  are  Accounts,  Ex- 
chequer, Q.  E.,  413/2,  I,  II,  III;  414/11;  Exchequer,  Treasury  of 
Eeceipt,  Misc.  BooTcs,  volume  123.  The  issue  books,  extending  from 
1491  to  the  end  of  the  reign  are  Additional  Mss.  7099,  a  copy  of 
the  accounts  for  the  years  1491  to  1505  which  must  be  used  for 
the  period  before  1495,  since  the  originals  can  no  longer  be  found; 
Accounts,  Exchequer,  Q.  E.,  414/6,  16;  415/3;  Additional  Mss. 
21,480;  Additional  Mss.  21,481;  Exchequer,  Treasury  of  Eeceipt, 
volumes  214,  215. 

All  these  books  are  signed  with  the  King's  sign  manual  on  practically 
every  page.  The  pages  in  the  back  parts  of  these  books  contain 
most  valuable  notes  on  the  management  of  the  revenues,  lists  of 
the  crown  lands  and  lists  of  the  obligations  and  recognizances  due 
to  the  king. 

For  the  reign,  of  Henry  VIII  the  account  books  of  the  Treasurer  of 
the  Chamber  are  well  calendared  in  the  Letters  and  Papers.  The 
account  book  for  the  year  1547-1548  is  printed  in  the  Trevelyan 


533]  APPENDIX    AND    BIBLIOGRAPHICAL    NOTES  237 

Papers,  Camden  Society  Publications,  LXVII,  191  ff.  A  declaration 
of  his  accounts  from  1557  to  1579  is  Declared  Accounts,  Pipe  Office, 
541. 

VII.  The  Court  of  Augmentations 

COMPOTI,  OR  DECLARATIONS  OF  THE  TREASURER  OF  THE  COURT  OF  AUG- 
MENTATIONS. This  series  is  complete  from  the  establishment  of 
the  court  in  1536  to  its  consolidation  with  the  Exchequer  in  1554. 
The  Eecord  Office  call  numbers  are  Augmentations  Office,  Treasurer's 
Bolls  of  Accounts,  1-10.  In  addition  there  are  preserved  many  of  the 
account  books  of  the  receiver-general  of  the  court,  from  which 
these  declarations  were  drawn  up. 

VIII.  Mint  Accounts 

Accounts,  Exchequer,  Q.  E.,  bundles  295,  296,  302;  Declared  Accounts, 
Audit  Office,  bundle  1595;  Declared  Accounts,  Pipe  Office,  2074, 
2077,  2079,  2080.  The  last  document  is  the  account  of  Sir  Edmund 
Pekham,  High  Treasurer  of  the  Mints,  from  1544  to  1550,  con- 
taining the  full  account  of  the  profits  realized  from  the  debasement 
of  the  coinage. 

IX.  Calais  Accounts 

ACCOUNTS  OF  THE  WOOL  CUSTOMS  COLLECTED  BY  THE  CALAIS  STAPLE. 

ACCOUNTS  OF  THE  TREASURER  OF  CALAIS. 

ACCOUNTS  OF  WORKS  AND  FORTIFICATIONS  AT  CALAIS. 

Many  of  these  accounts  are  enrolled  in  the  Foreign  Rolls.  The  origi- 
nals are  found  in  Accounts,  Exchequer,  Q.  E.,  bundles  201  to  207; 
Duchy  of  Lancaster,  Accounts  Various,  bundle  2;  Declared  Accounts, 
Pipe  Office,  530-535. 

X.  Special  Declarations  of  Accounts  before  Committees  of  the  King 
in  Council 

"BRIEF  DECLARATION  OF  THE  WHOLE  MILITARY  AND  NAVAL  EXPENSES 
INCURRED  BY  HENRY  VIII  AND  EDWARD  VI  DURING  THEIR  WARS  WITH 
FRANCE  AND  SCOTLAND,"  State  Papers,  Domestic,  Edward  VI,  XV, 
no.  11. 

"BEGISTER  OF  ALL  GIFTS,  EXCHANGES  AND  PURCHASES  OF  CROWN  LANDS 
IN  EVERY  YEAR  OF  KING  EDWARD  VI,"  State  Papers,  Domestic, 
Edward  VI,  XIX. 

EEPORT  ON  THE  STATE  OF  ALL  REVENUES  FOR  THE  YEAR  1550-1551,  WITH 
RECOMMENDATIONS  FOR  THE  IMPROVEMENT  OF  THE  REVENUES,  Addi- 
tional Mss.,  30,198. 

LIST  OF  ALL  THE  FEES   AND   CHARGES   OF   THE  GOVERNMENT  IN   EDWARD 

VI 's  REIGN,  Stowe  Mss.,  571,  no.  1. 


INDEX 


Accounting,  methods  of,  61-77,  99, 
180,  181,  192,  197,  198 

Act   of   Appeals,    105 

Allen,  John,  70 

Amicable  Grant,  95,  163 

Amiens,  Treaty  of,  101,  102  n 

Annuities  and  Pensions,  179,  192, 
204-205 

Ap  Eice,  John,   118,   119,   120,  122 

Articles  of  inquiry  and  injunction, 
118 

Assignments  by  Tallies,  63 

Audeley,  James,  seventh  Baron,  26 

Audeley,  Thomas,  Baron  of  Walden, 
124 

Austria,    110 

<3e  Ayala,  Pedro,  Spanish  Ambas- 
sador in  London,  60,  79 

Bacon,  Francis,  24,  31,  37,  42,  53, 
57,  86 

Beaumont,    John ,    181 

Bedford,  Jasper,  Duke  of,  26 

Bedyll,  Thomas,  118,  122 

Benevolences,  56,  57  n.  See  also 
Forced  Loans 

Berwick,  67,  74,  86,  142,  178,  189, 
191,  194,  195,  203 

Bishoprics,  plans  for  the  suppres- 
sion of,  200-202.  See  also  112, 
113,  114 

Bollyngay,   William,    70 

Book  of  Rates,  25,  207-208 

Boulogne,  costs  of  maintainance, 
1544-1550,  147,  156,  178,  182,  188, 
202 

Bourbon,  Duke  of,  94 

Bourchier,    John,    51 

Bowes,    Martin,    180 

Bowes,   Robert,   146-147,   190 

Bray,   Reginald,   19,   26,   51,   52 


Buckingham,  Edward  Stafford,  Duke 
of,  99 

Burgevenny,    Lord,    42,    43 

Buildings,  expenditures  on,  78  n,  104, 
140  n 

Butlerage   and   Prisage,   69,   70 

Brittany,  Duchy  of,   54  f 

Calais,  34,  38,  40,  44-45,  51,  67,  74- 
75,  86,  104,  106,  140,  142,  163, 
178,  182,  188,  189,  191,  194,  195, 
203,  211.  See  also  Merchants  of 
the  Staple 

Cambrai,  Treaty  of,  101 

Cambridge,   University   of,    35 

Camp,  Treaty  of,  158 

Capel,  William,  35 

Carthusian  Monks,   116,   126,   132 

Catesby,    William,    21 

Cecil,    William,    191   n,    194,    197 

Chancery,  28,  29.  See  also  Hanaper 
of  Chancery 

Chantries,  Confiscation  of,  157,  182, 
183 

Chapuys,  Eustace,  imperial  ambas- 
sador in  England,  106,  112,  113, 
114,  117,  118,  120,  121,  151,  152, 
164,  167 

Charles  V,  emperor  of  the  Holy 
Roman  Empire,  85,  90,  92,  95,  96, 
100,  101,  102,  105,  116,  144  ff 

Oharles  VIII,  king  of  France,  24, 
56,  57 

Chester,  Earldom  of,  13,  21  n,  65 

Cheyne,  Francis,  26 

Church  plate  and  ornaments,  131, 
156,  176,  193.  See  also  Jewels  of 
monasteries  and  shrines 

Church  property,  restoration  of,  by 
Mary,  212 

Church  wealth  confiscated  by  the 
Tudors,  general  discussion,  108- 


239 


240 


ENGLISH   GOVERNMENT   FINANCE 


[536 


110,  113-116.  See  also  Bishop- 
rices,  Chantries,  Church  plate  and 
ornaments,  First  Fruits  and 
Tenths,  Friaries,  Knights  of  St. 
John,  Monasteries,  Praemunire, 
Shrines 

Clarence,  Duke  of,  12     „ 

Clerical  Tenths  and  Subsidies,  54, 
93,  94,  112-113,  114,  137,  138,  150, 
162-163,  184,  200  n,  210-211;  value 
of  227-228 

Clifton,  Gervis,  45 

Coinage,  Debasement  of,  154,  174  ff, 
185-186,  194  f,  209 

Coins,  value  of,  215 

Convocations  of  Canterbury  and 
York,  54,  94,  110-112,  113,  114  n, 
150 

Conyers,  Lord,  43 

Commercial  Treaties  of  Henry  VII, 
24 

Cornburgh,  Allen,  52 

Cornishmen,  revolt  of  in  1497,  34, 
58 

Cornwall,  Duchy  of,  13,  21,  23,  65, 
67 

Cotton,  Robert,   37,   38 

Court  of  Augmentations,  expendi- 
tures in,  218-220,  237;  receipts  of, 
139-140,  217;  organization  of,  130, 
181 

Court  of  First  Fruits  and  Tenths, 
115,  137,  138-139,  235;  receipts 
and  expenditures  in,  221-224 

Court  of  General  Surveyors;  organ- 
ization and  practice,  65-74,  28^- 
2\Q;  revenues  in,  90,  138.  See 
also  Treasurer  of  the  Chamber 

Court  of  Wards,  138,  181,  236.  See 
also  Wardship  and  Marriage 

Cranmer,    Thomas,   105,   131 

Cromwell,  Thomas,  96  n,  103,  104, 
106,  108,  113,  115-116,  117,  118, 
119,  120,  127,  130,  132,  133,  137, 
138,  140,  142,  147,  148  ff,  200, 
213 

Crown  lands,  alienation  and  sale  of, 


131,  140,  148,  153,  156,  178,  179, 
183,  198,  202,  205,  209,  217 

Crown  lands,  income  from  rent  of; 
in  fifteenth  century,  12,  13;  in 
Tudor  period,  21,  25,  27,  82,  89, 
90,  138,  139,  178  n,  205,  206 

Crown  lands,  increase  of,  21,  25,  89, 
99,  108-110.  See  also  Nobility,  es- 
tates of;  Church  wealth  confiscat- 
ed 

Customs  Revenues  and  Subsidies,  11, 
12,  20,  24-25,  34,  89,  103-104,  206- 
209.  See  also  Tonnage  and 
Poundage 

Dacre,  Lord;  eighth  Baron,  43,  48; 
ninth  Baron,  151 

Darcy;  Lord  Thomas,  43,  49;  Lord 
George  190 

Daubeney    Giles,    38,    42 

Daubeny,  William,  25 

Daunce,   John,    92 

Dawtry,    John,    34,    38,    92 

Declarations  of  accounts,  76-77 

Declarations  of  the  state  of  the 
Treasury,  64-65 

Declared  accounts,  77  n. 

Denmark,  24,  145 

Devotion  Money,  152,  165 

Derby,  Thomas,  Earl  of,  43 

Devereux,  Walter,  21 

Dimmock,  Robert,  45 

"Discourse  of  Foreign  War",  37 

The  Divorce  from  Catharine  of  Ara- 
gon,  102,  105,  107 

Dorset,  Thomas  Grey,  Marquis  of, 
51,  92 

Douche,  Jasper,  167  ff. 

Dover,  104,  107,  114,  140,  142,  163 

Duchy  of  Lancaster,  12,  13,  21,  23, 
26-27,  35,  65  n,  70,  71,  90,  138, 
181,  236 

Dudley,  Edmund,  29  n,  34  ff,  109 

Dudley,  John,  Duke  of  Northumber- 
land, 191,  196,  197,  199,  205,  209 

Dynham,  Lord,  52 

Edgecombe,  Richard,  19 


537] 


INDEX 


241 


Edward  I,  king  of  England,  11, 
12 

Edward  II,  king  of  England,  109 

Edward  III,  king  of  England,  11, 
184 

Edward  IV,  king  of  England,  11  n, 
12,  13,  15,  17,  21,  23,  51,  55,  56, 
57 

Edward  V,  king  of  England,  12 

Edward  VI,  king  of  England,  179, 
183,  192,  196,  201,  207,  210 

Elizabeth,  queen  of  Henry  VII,  26, 
52 

Eltham,  Statutes  of,  99 

The  Empire,  relations  with  France, 
131,  144 

The  Empire,  relation  with  England, 
105,  116,  131;  see  also  England, 
foreign  relations. 

Empson,  Richard,  29  n,  34  ff. 

England,  foreign  relations,  53,  54, 
56,  58,  91  ff,  105,  116,  131,  144  ff, 
178  ff,  188  ff,  209 

Erasmus,  Desiderius,  48 

Etaples,  Treaty  of,  56 

Exchequer,  Court  of;  organization 
and  system,  60-65,  233  ff;  ex- 
penditures and  receipts  in,  80-81, 
137-138,  216 

Expenditures  of  the  English  govern- 
ment, 79-87,  88-92,  137-143,  190- 
191,  195-196,  203,  205 

de  la  Fava,  Lewis,  45 

Ferrers,  Lord,    21,    26 

Feudal  aids,  incidents  and  services; 
revived  by  Henry  VII,  27-29,  30- 
31,  44,  83;  in  the  reign  of  Henry 
VIII,  153.  See  also  Wardship  and 
Marriage. 

Fitfeenths  and  Tenths;  description 
of,  13;  in  the  fifteenth  century, 
13-14,  15,  16;  in  the  reign  of 
Henry  VII,  54-59 ;  in  the  reign  of 
Henry  VIII,  150,  151,  162,  200, 
210-211;  value  of,  225-226.  See 
also  Subsidies,  Clerical  Tenths 
and  Subsidies 


Finance  Ministers;  Wolsey,  92,  98- 
102;  Cromwell,  103,  149  ff; 
Wriothesley  and  Paget,  152  ff, 
170,  171;  Cecil  197;  See  also 
Heron,  John;  Empson,  Richard; 
Dudley,  Edmund 

Financial  policy,  discussion  of;  in 
fifteenth  century,  16-18;  in  Henry 
VII  's  reign,  20,  21-23,  25,  26,  28- 
29,  30,  31,  32,  42-44,  53,  59;  in 
Henry  VIII 's  reign,  93,  97-99, 
103,  106-107,  108-109,  116,  117, 
147  f,  149  f,  152  f,  155  f,  182  f ; 
after  1547,  191,  196-200,  202  f, 
205;  general  observations  on,  174, 
200,  213-214 

Fines  for  livery  of  lands,  30 

Fines  of  Intrusion,  30  n,  43,  44 

Firma  Comitatus,  11,  12,  21  n,  65  n, 
138 

First  Fruits  and  Tenths,  115,  137, 
138,  212 

Fisher,  John,  Bishop  of  Rochester, 
116 

Fitzwater,  Lord,  43 

Flanders,  see  Netherlands 

Forced  Loans,  52,  79;  in  1522,  93- 
94;  in  1525,  95-97,  98  n;  the  loan 
of  1542,  151  f,  164;  the  Devotion 
Money  of  1543,  152  f,  165;  the 
Benevolence  of  1545,  155,  165-166; 
Forced  loans  1542-1545,  general 
discussion,  163  ff;  the  Contribu- 
tion of  1546,  166;  in  Mary's  reign 
211 

Fortescue,  John,  12,  16-17 

Fox,  Richard,  Bishop  of  Winchester, 
38,  45  n,  92 

France,  relations  with  the  Empire, 
116,  131,  144,  1*6 

France,  relations  with  England,  24, 
54  ff,  91,  105,  116,  131  ff,  178, 
182  ff,  209;  see  also  England, 
foreign  relations 

Francis  I,  king  of  France,  91,  95, 
96,  100,  101,  102,  116,  127,  144  ff 


242 


ENGLISH    GOVERNMENT   FINANCE 


[538 


Fraud  and  corruption  in  financial 
affairs,  178  ff,  197-198,  202 

Frankfort,  Treaty  of,  55 

Friaries,  suppression  of,   135 

Friars  Observant,  126 

Fuggers,  bankers  of  Augsburg,  170, 
171,  172,  173,  174,  186,  195-196 

Gens  d'armes,  191,  196 

Gostwicke,  John,  Treasurer  of  First 
Fruits  and  Tenths,  115,  132,  149 

Gresham,  John,  168,  170,  172 

Gresham,  Sir  Eichard,  168,  170 

Gresham,  Thomas,  171,  196,  209 

Guildford,  Eiehard,  19 

Hall,  Edward,  36  f,  42 

Hanaper  of  Chancery,  64,  67,  99, 
138 

Hanseatic  League,  24,  207 

Henry  II,  king  of  France,  188 

Henry  IV,  king  of  England,  12,  14, 
16 

Henry  V,  king  of  England,  11  n, 
109 

Henry  VI,  king  of  England,  11  n, 
12,  21  n,  54 

Henry  VII,  king  of  England,  19,  21, 
23,  24,  26,  27,  29,  30,  31,  32,  35, 
36,  37,  38,  43,  45,  47,  49,  50,  53, 
54,  55,  56,  59,  60,  67,  72,  73,  76,  79, 
85,  88,  108-109,  150,  159,  175,  207, 
213 

Henry  VIII,  king  of  England,  30, 
46,  48,  72,  73,  88,  90,  91,  92,  93, 
96,  97,  103,  106,  110,  111,  113,  115, 
118,  120,  121,  125,  127,  128,  129, 
133,  144  ff,  178,  187,  189,  207, 
214 

Herbert,  Lord,  38 

Heron,  John,  Treasurer  of  the  Cham- 
ber," 29,  30,  3%  34,  38,  39,  45,  58, 
69,  71,  72,  73,  88 

Hesse,  110 

Hodre,  William,  70 

Household  expenditures,  81,  89,  99, 
140-141,  182,  189,  194,  203 

House  of  Commons,  16,  28  n,  35,  107, 
109,  121,  148,  161,  185,  200,  211  n 


House   of  Lords,   121,   148 

Iceland,  24, 

Increases  in  government  expenses, 
84  n,  88-89,  98.  See  also  War 
costs  and  expenditures 

Indemnities,  see  Pensions  from 
France 

Ingworth,  Bichard,  Bishop  of  Dover, 
135 

Inquisitions  post  mortem,  28 

Intercursus  Magnus,  24 

Ireland,  29,  52,  78,  85,  104,  114,  129, 
141,  142,  163,  189,  191,  195,  203, 
212 

Italian  mercantile  houses  in  London, 
168,  171,  173 

James  IV,  king  of  Scotland,  58 

James  V,  king  of  Scotland,  his 
relations  with  Henry  VIII,  125, 
128,  146.  See  also  England,  for- 
eign relations 

Jewels  of  monasteries  and  shrines, 
117,  118,  119-120,  131,  140.  See 
also  Church  plate  and  ornaments 

Jewels,  purchase  of,  78,  85,  186, 
186  n,  195 

King's  Auditors,   76,  77  n 

King's  Chamber,  see  Treasurer  of 
the  Chamber 

Kneysworth,  Thomas,  35,  43 

Knights  of  St.  John;  confiscation 
of  estates  of,  114,  150;  restora- 
tion by  Mary,  212 

Knights  Templar,  109 

Knights  of  the  Bath,  27 

Lane,  William,  194 

Layton,  Bichard,  117,  119,  122,  123, 
132 

Legh,  Thomas,  117,  118,  119,  120, 
122,  125,  132 

Lincoln    (city   of),    14, 

Livery  of  lands,  suit  for,  30 

Loans,  Foreign  (in  Flanders),  154, 
156;  general  discussion  of,  1544- 
1547,  167  ff;  in  the  reign  of 
Edward  VI,  186,  186  n,  191,  195, 
209;  in  the  reign  of  Mary,  209 


539  J 


INDEX 


243 


Loans  Internal,  51-52,  78-79,  197, 
207,  210.  See  also  Forced  Loans 

Loans  to  foreign  princes,  85,  85  n, 
91-92,  100,  105,  152 

Loans  to  merchants  by  Henry  VII 
and  Henry  VIII,  24,  34,  85 

London,  John,   118,   122 

London,  Mayor  and  Alderman  of 
the  city  of,  35,  43,  51,  52,  197, 
210 

Louis  XI,  king  of  France,  55,  57 

Louis  XII,   king   of  France,   100 

Lovell,   Francis,    21 

Lovell,   Thomas,    19,  '38,    71 

Mary,  queen  of  England,  50,  146, 
200,  202,  207,  209,  210,  212,  213 

Maximilian,  emperor  of  Holy  Rom- 
an Empire,  54,  55,  90,  91,  92 

Medino  del  Campo,  Treaty  of,  24, 
55 

Mercantile  transactions  of  the  Eng- 
lish government,  39,  40,  45,  168, 
169,  171,  172,  173,  174,  186,  186  n, 
192,  193,  198 

Merchant  Adventurers,  41,  168,  197, 
207,  209,  210 

Merchants  of  the  Staple,  34,  38,  44- 
45,  51,  67,  74-75,  168,  197,  207, 
209;  See  also  Calais 

Merton,  Statute  of,   185 

The  Mint,  67,  155,  156,  176  n.  See 
also  Coinage,  debasement  of 

Monastic   charities,    123-125 

Monastic  estates;  alienation  of,  see 
Crown  lands,  sale  of;  value  of, 
see  Bents  of  monastic  lands 

Monasteries,  dissolution  of,  113-116, 
117-136 ;  reasons  for  the  dissolu- 
tion, 121-130;  report  of  the  visi- 
tors, 118-125;  monasteries  aspapel 
strongholds,  125-128;  financial 
motives,  128-129;  the  Acts  of  Dis- 
solution, 129-130,  133;  procedure 
of  dissolution  of  a  house,  130-131 ; 
dissolution  of  the  large  houses, 
131-135 

Monastic    estates;    grant    to    royal 


favorites,  148;  grants  to  members 
of  the  Council  of  Edward  VI,  178- 
179 

Montford,    Simon,    25 

More,  Thomas,  Lord  Chancellor,  28 
n,  107,  116 

More,  Treaty  of,  100 

Morton,  John,  Archbishop  of  Canter- 
bury, 19,  122 

Mountjoy,  William,  Lord,  48 

National  Defense,  measures  of,  and 
expenditures  for  works  of,  105- 

106,  107,  114,  142,  145,  147,  178, 
182,  188-189,  203.     See  also  War 
costs  and  expenditures 

Naval  preparations  and  costs,  58, 
105-106,  145,  147,  203.  See  also 
War  costs  and  expenditures 

Netherlands,  24,  53,  154,  167  ff,  186, 
191 

Nobility,  estates  of,  annexed  by 
the  crown,  21,  25,  26,  99,  108- 
109.  See  also  Private  property, 
seizure  of 

Norfolk,  Thomas,  second  Duke,  21; 
Thomas,  third  Duke,  21,  96,  97, 

107,  112,  148 
Northumberland,  Henry  Percy,  Earl 

of,  42,  43,  49 

Norway,  24,  109 

Obligations,  33  ff 

Organization  of  the  revenue  sys- 
tem, 25,  26,  34,  38,  49-50,  60-77, 
99,  115,  130-131,  192,  204 

Oxford,  John,  Earl  of,  19 

Paget,  Willam,  152  ff,  170,  171,  179, 
181 

Papel  Bull  of  Privation,  105,  116, 
144 

Parliament,  11,  13,  14,  15,  16,  18, 
20,  26,  53,  54,  55-56,  58,  72,  88, 
93,  94,  95,  107-108,  112,  114,  115, 
120,  148,  150,  160,  183,  184,  185, 
198,  210,  211 

Parre,  Thomas,  43 

Paulet,  Amis,  44,  '58 


1M1 


ENGLISH    GOVERNMENT   FINANCE 


[540 


Pekham,  Edmund,  153,  155,  156, 
177  n,  186  n,  189  n,  198 

Pension  from  France,  55-57,  82  n, 
85,  99-102,  103,  116,  145  ff,  158 

Pension,  see  Annuities 

Perpoynt,  William,  45 

Philip,  Archduke  of  Austria,  85 

Pilgrim,    The,    121-122 

Pilgrimage  of  grace,  124,  131-132, 
141,  142 

Plate,  Purchase  of,  78,  85 

Plumpton,  Eobert  and  William,  45, 
46 

de  la  Pole,  Edward,  26 

Post  war  expenditures,  158,  178, 
188-189 

Poynings,  Edward,  19 

Praemunire,   107,   110-112 

Prices,  rise  of,  in  the  sixteenth 
century,  89,  174,  178,  190,  205 

Private  property,  seizure  of  by  the 
crown  under  forms  of  attainders, 
25,  150  f. 

Privy  Council;  its  control  of  affairs 
after  1544,  178;  under,  Edward 
VI,  178;  self -voted  grants  of 
crown  lands,  178  ff.  See  also  19, 
38,  45,  47,  48,  196 

Privy  seals  for  loans,  see  Forced 
loans 

Profits  from  war,  53  ff,  57,  58 

Purchase  of  alum,  see  Mercantile 
transactions  of  the  English  govern- 
ment 

Purchase  of  copper,  see  Mercantile 
transactions  of  the  English  gov- 
ernment 

Purchase  of  Fustians,  see  Mercan- 
tile transactions  of  the  English 
government. 

Ratcliffe,  Richard,  21 

Rateliffe,    Eobert,    25 

Recognizances,  33  ff 

Redon,  Treaty  of,  55 

Reed,  Richard,  166 

Regent   (royal  ship),  39 


Rents  of  the  monastic  lands,  118, 
137,  140,  178  n 

Revenue,  amount  of;  in  the  fifteenth 
century,  12;  under  Henry  VII, 
78-87;  under  Henry  VIII,  88-90, 
99  n,  99-102,  137-143;  in  1550- 
1551,  190;  in  Mary's  reign,  206, 
208 

Revenue,  sources  of  in  the  middle 
ages,  11 

Revolution  of  1485,  its  nature,  19- 
20 

Richard  II,  king  of  England,  22 

Richard  III,  king  of  England,  11  n, 
12,  13,  19,  21,  23,  51,  56,  65,  66  n, 
67 

Riche,  Sir  Richard,  149,  153,  155 

Richmond,  Earldom  of,  21 

Riga,  24 

Roach,   William,  16b' 

Roger,  Bishop  of  Carlisle,  70,  72 

Royal  supremacy,  monastic  opposi- 
tion to,  125-127 

Sale  of  lead,  see  Mercantile  tran- 
sactions of  the  English  govern- 
ment x 

Say,  William,  43 

Scotland,  relation  with  England, 
58,  104,  114,  128,  146,  178,  182  ff. 
See  England,  foreign  relations; 
James  IV,  king  of  Scotland; 
James  V,  king  of  Scotland 

Seymour,  Edward  (Lord  Protector), 
149,  156,  184-185,  198 

Sharington,  William,  180 

Sheetz,  Erasmus,  173,  174,  186,  195- 
196 

Sherbourne,  Robert,  44,  58 

Shrines,  suppression  of,  135-136 

Simnel,  Lambert,  52,  53 

Somerset,   Charles,   38 

Southwell,   Robert,   70,   72 

Sovereign  (royal  ship),  39 

Spain,   54,   55 

Spiritual  livings,  212-213 

Stalled   debts,  50,   192 

Stafford,   Humphrey,  25 


541] 


INDEX 


245 


Stanhope,  Edward,  45 

Star  Chamber,  44 

Stanley,  William,   25 

Subsides;  in  the  fifteenth  century, 
14  ft;  under  Henry  VII,  54-59; 
under  Henry  VIII,  93,  94,  107- 
108,  114,  148,  150,  151,  152,  158, 
159  ff,  162;  under  Edward  VI, 
184,  185,  198  f ;  in  the  reign  of 
Mary,  210-211;  value  of  subsidies 
1485-1558,  225-226.  See  also 
Clerical  Tenths  and  Subsidies; 
Fifteenths  and  Tenths 

Subsidies  of  wool,  wool  fells  and 
leather,  see  Customs  Revenues 

Suffolk,  Charles  Brandon,  Duke  of, 
94,  97,  166,  168,  169 

"Surplus"  The,  78-79,  86-87,  93, 
102,  106-107,  142-143,  147  ff,  155, 
182,  188,  191,  193  n 

Switzerland,   110 

Taxation;  before  1485,  13-16;  for 
later  taxation  see  Subsidies,  Fif- 
teenths and  Tenths,  Clerical 
Tenths  and  Subsidies,  Forced 
loans 

Taxation,  popular  attitude  toward, 
16,  53,  93,  94,  95-97,  106-107, 
108,  116,  162,  174,  199-200 

Temporalities  of  Bishops  and  Ab- 
bots, 31,  82 

Tonnage  and  Poundage,  and  sub- 
sidy of  wool,  wool  fells  and  leath- 
er, 11,  20,  25,  88,  104,  104  n,  206- 
209 

Tournai,  92,  100 

Treasurer  of  the  Chamber,  25,  26, 
30  n,  31,  33,  49-50,  67,  71,  72,  89, 
93,  236;  revenues  of,  81-86,  88 

Tregonwell,   John,    118,    122,    132 

Tuchcr,  Lazarus,  187,  195 

Tuke,  Brian,  47 


Tyrrel,  Thomas,  43 

Vaughan,  Stephen,  154,  156,  167  ff 

Vaux,  Nicolas,   43 

Vergil,  Polydore,  36  f,  42,  47 

Visitations  of  monasteries,  117  ff, 
122,  132 

Wales,  Principality  of,  13,  21,  26, 
65 

Wallop,  John,  147 

Warbeck,  Perkin,  35,  53,  58 

War  costs  and  expenditures;  in 
1492,  57;  in  1496-1497,  58;  from 
1511  to  1514,  90-93 ;  from  1522  to 
1525,  94,  97;  in  1532,  104;  in 
1536,  141;  from  1542-1546,  147, 
155,  156;  from  1547-1550,  182. 
See  also  Ireland. 

Wardrobe  Expenditures,  81,  89,  182, 
203  n 

Wardship  and  Marriage,  29,  30-31, 
42  n,  70,  70  n,  138  see  also 
Court  of  Wards 

Warham,  William,  Archbishop  of 
Canterbury,  95  f,  122 

Warwick,  Spencer  and  Salisbury 
lands,  65,  67,  68 

Welsars,  bankers  of  Augsburg,  168, 
169 

Westby,  Bartholomew,  70,  72 

Whalley,  Richard,  180 

Williams,  John,   181 

Wiot,  Henry,  38 

Wolsey,  Thomas,  88-102,  107,  109, 
110,  160,  163,  182 

Wriothesley,  Thomas  (Lord  Chan- 
cellor), 149,  152  ff,  163,  168,  170, 
176 

Wullcnwever,  Jurger  of  Liibeck,  105 

Yarmouth  (town  of  great),  14 

York,  Cecilie,  Duchess  of,  25  f 

Zouche,  John,  Lord,  21 


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